When Models Inc. takes over Howard University’s Cramton Auditorium on Friday, Sept. 25, the runway will tell a story that was 20 years in the making. 

Fashion will be at its center, but Models Inc. Founder and CEO Iran “Bang” Paylor (MFA, ’00) and President Aaron Handy are quick to make clear that the evening will be about much more than clothes. Through modeling, dance, choreography, theatrical performance and storytelling, the organization’s anniversary production, “20,” will trace a journey that began in Washington, D.C., in 2006 and has since grown into a creative and developmental community serving young people across the region, including students at Howard University. 

“Models Inc. was never created just to teach people how to walk a runway,” Paylor said. “It was created to give young people a place to discover who they are, build confidence, develop discipline, and understand that their creativity can open doors. Twenty years later, seeing what that vision has become is bigger than anything I could have imagined.” 

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Paylor founded Models Inc. on March 2, 2006, with a mission centered on creating a safe space where young people could build confidence, develop artistic skills and find community. Modeling and performance became the entry point, but over time, the organization’s work expanded to include mentorship, college preparation, workforce development, and connections to resources intended to help members navigate life beyond the runway. 

For Handy, that mission is personal. 

Before becoming president of Models Inc., he experienced the organization from the other side—as a young creative looking for an outlet and a community of his own. While studying mass communications with a minor in theater at Delaware State University, Handy became involved in fashion through a homecoming fashion show. He later connected with Paylor and Models Inc., beginning a relationship with the organization that has now lasted more than a decade. 

“It was just a place for me to go and grow and learn and evolve,” Handy said. “It definitely changed my life and instilled a lot of different qualities within me that I didn’t have. So that’s something that we now pour back into the students.” 

That “pouring back” happens both on and off the runway. 

Handy said rehearsals are not limited to perfecting a walk, learning choreography or hitting an eight-count. Models Inc. leaders also check in with members about academics, home life, career ambitions and what they envision for themselves after college. 

“We actually talk to them, mentor them, see what’s going on, check on their schoolwork,” Handy said. “What is your plan—even during college and after school? It’s just being there for them for that guidance, because that’s something that Models Inc. did for me.” 

A Community That Crosses Disciplines 

That approach has become especially visible at Howard, where Models Inc. creates an artistic home for students whose academic pursuits span disciplines across the University. 

Tammy McCants, Director of Enrollment and Admissions for the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and advisor to Howard University Models Inc., has watched that cross-campus community develop firsthand. 

“This organization brings together students from every school and college on campus,” McCants said. “It’s not just a Fine Arts initiative.” 

For McCants, that reach is part of what makes the organization particularly valuable within a university setting. A student pursuing biology, communications, business, health sciences or another field does not have to leave an artistic interest behind simply because it falls outside their primary course of study. 

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“It gives those students whose passion is in the arts the opportunity to still be a biology student and express themselves that way during their college experience and beyond,” she said. 

The organization also creates opportunities beyond the runway itself. Participants include models and dancers, but the ecosystem surrounding a production requires student designers, stylists, choreographers, producers and other creatives, offering multiple pathways for students to discover and strengthen their talents. 

Howard’s chapter is part of a larger collegiate network that Models Inc. has built in the region. Paylor and Handy maintain oversight of that broader network while using its chapters to extend the mentorship model that has sustained the organization across generations. 

For Paylor, that human impact—not any individual production or accolade—is the clearest measure of what Models Inc. has accomplished. 

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“Our greatest accomplishment isn’t a single fashion show, award or stage we’ve touched—it’s the people,” Paylor said. “It’s watching someone enter Models Inc. unsure of themselves and leave knowing their value, their talent and their ability to lead. That is the legacy.” 

Handy sees the same impact as a cycle in which today’s students can eventually become tomorrow’s mentors. A student who enters the organization lacking confidence, he explained, may later return as a graduate student or working professional able to help someone younger navigate the same journey. 

“That’s the alumni piece,” Handy said. “That girl that was once her can now help her.” 

Turning 20 Years into a Live Experience 

That sense of history and continuity will anchor the Sept. 25 production. 

Featuring a cast of more than 90 models and performers from Models Inc.’s main Washington, D.C., division and its Howard University chapter, “20” will revisit defining moments from the organization’s history through approximately 10 to 12 distinct scenes. 

“For our 20th anniversary, we didn’t want to simply produce another fashion show—we wanted to create an experience,” Handy said. “September 25 will be our love letter to fashion, performance, culture and the generations who have made Models Inc. what it is today. Think of the grandeur and cultural significance of the Ebony Fashion Fair reimagined for a new generation, with the energy of a live Broadway production.” 

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Audiences can expect custom fashion, choreography, music, dramatic staging and visual storytelling, with Black designers and emerging student designers contributing to the production. 

McCants, who has witnessed Models Inc. productions from the audience as well as supported its students at Howard, similarly describes what happens onstage as something larger than a conventional fashion presentation. 

“Every production I’ve ever seen is an experience,” she said. “It’s not just people coming to see a fashion show. It’s not just the modeling. It’s the dance and the music and the lights. It is a sensory experience.” 

The reference to the historic Ebony Fashion Fair is especially significant to Paylor. He said creating a platform for Black models was central to Models Inc.’s founding vision and to the distinct performance style the organization has developed over two decades. 

“When I created the company in 2006, that was the premise,” Paylor said. “I wanted to create a space for Black models.” 

Handy and Paylor serve as creative directors for “20,” developing the aesthetic of each scene and working with designers to translate those concepts into garments, movement and music. Rather than treating models as passive displays for clothing, the production is designed to have performers animate the fashion and immerse audiences in each scene. 

For Handy, celebrating the milestone at Howard adds another layer of significance. 

“To celebrate 20 years at Howard University is incredibly meaningful because Howard represents so much of the excellence, culture and history that aligns with our own story,” he said. “This anniversary is about honoring where Models Inc. has been while showing the next generation exactly where we intend to go.” 

Connecting the Classroom to the Industry 

That approach is informed by both men’s professional experience in fashion and entertainment. 

Paylor has worked across choreography, styling, fashion-show production and New York Fashion Week, while Handy’s background includes styling, image consulting, runway training and production. Paylor’s relationship with Howard also predates the current chapter: while pursuing graduate studies at the University, he was simultaneously traveling between Washington and New York to work professionally in fashion. 

That dual experience strengthened his belief that students benefit most when academic study is paired with current professional practice. 

“The classroom is fine, but we will get more results if we combine the classroom with actual real-work-environment skills so they can learn hands-on as they go,” Paylor said. 

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Through their industry relationships, Paylor and Handy have helped connect students with designers, professional experiences, internships and employment opportunities—part of what they see as Models Inc.’s larger responsibility to create pathways rather than simply performances. 

Twenty years after Models Inc. began, that community now spans generations, campuses and creative disciplines. At Howard, its presence demonstrates how the arts can create points of connection across academic boundaries—giving students throughout the University a place to perform, create, lead and belong. 

“Twenty years in this industry is not something we take lightly,” Handy said. “Trends change, people change and institutions evolve, but purpose is what creates longevity. Models Inc. is still here because our purpose has remained clear: transform lives, create opportunities and give emerging talent a platform to become more than they ever imagined.” 

On Sept. 25, that purpose—and the generations of people who have carried it forward—will take center stage at Cramton Auditorium. 

Models Inc. presents “20” on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, at Howard University’s Cramton Auditorium. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the show beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $20 in recognition of the organization’s 20th anniversary, with student pricing also available. Purchase tickets through Ticket Tailor. Special discounted admission is available for currently enrolled Howard University students and can be secured here. To learn more about Models Inc., visit ModelsIncDC.org. To support the organization and its work, make a donation to Models Inc. 

Top photo. Models Inc. photographed on The Yard during Chadwick A. Boseman Day, 2026. Photo by Wilfred Mbayu