Many say Dyan Flood is a model teacher due to her enthusiasm and passion for teaching, but few know of her time as a model while a student at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
It all started with a commercial on the radio announcing an open audition for a Wisconsin swimwear calendar.
“A friend of mine suggested, ‘You should do that,'” Flood recalled.
At first a little hesitant, Flood was further encouraged by her friends and decided to audition for the swimwear calendar, without any previous modeling experience. The audition process was similar to a pageant. The women who auditioned modeled sportswear, swimwear, and eveningwear. At the time, Flood was not exactly sure how she felt about auditioning and the possibility of being chosen.
“I tend to be the type of person who’s a little bit modest. Wearing a swim suit in front of a whole bunch of people was not my idea of something I wanted to do,” Flood said.
However, Flood was not new to performing before an audience. She was a part of her orchesis troop in high school and was a cheerleader for University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Though she was not called the night of the audition, she was called a week later with the news she had been picked to be one of the calendar girls: Miss October.
Flood’s modeling career was not limited to swimwear in the calendar. Participation in the calendar led to a contract with an agency, Ultimate Attractions, which allowed Flood to take part in other small Wisconsin commercials, such as using a remote while relaxing in a lazy boy chair and cracking crab legs for Red Lobster. She also promoted local restaurants and bars at state fairs while wearing t-shirts with the restaurants' names and holding trays of food and drink samples, like bratwurst and Wisconsin Cheese.
“I guess I started feeling more confident in [modeling] and I started to make money. It ended up being good,” Flood said.
The agency, located in Madison, was one of the only agencies in Wisconsin, which was very helpful for getting modeling jobs.
“Pretty much every weekend there was some sort of job that I could say yes to. They paid anywhere from $200 to sometimes $800 or $1,000. It was actually really fun,” Flood recalled.
Flood enjoyed the jobs she was offered and also saw it as a way to help pay for her education.
“College is expensive and that was a good way to help pay for it,” Flood said.
As a model, Flood had an opportunity to do a photo shoot with Harley Davidson and spend time at the plant in Wisconsin, her favorite modeling opportunity.
“I really liked working with the Harley Davidson people. They were really nice, very cool, laid back. They paid well,” she said.
Not only was Flood a model, but she was also a dancer for Weird Al Yankovic’s tour in the Midwest, a job she enjoyed very much.
“I got to wear a potato costume. I got to dance really funny on stage,” she reminisced.
The audience at the Weird Al Yankovic concert was made up of twelve- and thirteen-year-old boys. Flood enjoyed signing autographs after the show and seeing their enthusiastic faces. She enjoyed meeting Yankovic and spending time with him and the other dancers.
“He’s a hilarious guy, very smart, very funny,” Flood said of Yankovic.
During her modeling career, Flood was also asked to be a part of the Miss Hawaiian Tropic pageant. She became Miss Wisconsin for the pageant and traveled to the Bahamas. Her involvement in the pageant led to modeling opportunities with Venus Swimwear and other summertime clothing companies.
Because she was a college student at the time, Flood’s studies always came first, even if she had a long modeling job.
"I was a really good student in college. My studies came before anything,” she said.
Photo shoots could take a whole day and sometimes took place in other Midwestern states. After hours of make-up and light testing, photographers would often take pictures for their own portfolios. Once a shoot was completed, the photographer would go through the pictures, one by one, to decide which to use.
“I would fly out on a Friday or Saturday and wouldn’t come back until Sunday night and I’d have class early Monday morning. It sometimes interfered with cheerleading and it was really hard to balance it all. A lot of the time I could say to my agency, ‘I can’t go to that one. It’s going to be too hard. I have an exam the next week.’”
A downside to modeling, according to Flood, is the way models are sometimes treated.
“Some of the people can be kind of rude. They think because you’re a model you’re ditsy and don’t have any brains about you,” she said.
At times, photographers and others in the industry would say unkind things and act condescendingly. As a successful college student, Flood was offended by this.
Though some people in the business could be difficult, Flood enjoyed the friendships she made with the other models--as well as meeting interesting people at different events. Once, she met Mario Lopez, known for his role on "Saved by the Bell", at a car show.
“I loved meeting the people,” Flood said. “A lot of the girls I modeled with were really fun. We still have good friendships.”
After modeling for a couple years during college, Flood reduced her time spent modeling when she started her job teaching at LHS. Part of the reason was that it took up a lot of time.
“It’s just time consuming. It’s hard to do,” Flood said.
Also, the nature of her modeling—swimwear—was a reason Flood did not model as much during her career as a teacher. She did not think it would be appropriate for students to come across the pictures—which did happen once.
“One day, it might have been my first year teaching, a student had my calendar, and when I walked into class, it was hanging up above my board,” Flood recalled.
Immediately, after seeing the calendar, Flood was flustered and asked the student to take it down.
“I didn’t get him in trouble or anything, but it was one of those embarrassing moments,” she said.
During college, Flood would sometimes see the Wisconsin women swim wear calendar or the agency's poster while around Wisconsin.
“You don’t realize how many people have the calendar or the poster. It was very strange,” she said.
Years after modeling, Flood values her experiences and encourages others to try it as well.
“I would encourage girls who want to do it--or even guys who want to do it--to definitely try. It’s certainly a confidence builder. It does open up a lot of doors in terms of networking with people,” Flood said.
photo courtesy of D. Flood