Business in Vancouver’s “How I did it” feature asks business leaders to explain in their own words how they achieved a business goal in the face of significant entrepreneurial challenges. In this week’s issue, Charie Van Dyke, president of New Image College of Fine Arts and co-owner of New Image Entertainment, talks about rebuilding the business her parents left her into an acting, makeup and esthetics school – as well as establishing a feature-length filmmaking company that gives students practical experience in makeup and acting.
"In 1980, we were called New Image Enterprises. My mom, Charlotte, and my father, Bill, who were both psychologists, started the company. My mom had a drive for women – learning, and dealing with their inner self to get healthy. So she thought she would also deal with their outside – inner and outer beauty.
“The business was dealing with the image side of women – teaching them how to be able to go out, interview for a job, be successful in the work field and feel good about themselves whatever career they’re in.
“She had about 200 New Images [franchisees] and every woman would have their [own] home-based business. In 1982 it developed into some modelling and actual professional courses.
“My dad got ill when I was modelling, and the decision was either to close New Image or I take over the business. So I took it over in 1988 and changed, restructured and made it into a school where we taught acting programs, professional makeup and professional skin care. But it was still on a part-time basis.
“After we opened up five schools, I met my husband and partner, John Craig, who has a background in marketing. We thought we would work on the business together and bring it to the level that we’re at today. We went through accreditation and we changed all of our programs to full-time trade programs. We moved into our downtown location and closed all of the small schools. At that time, we had previously graduated over 60,000 students from all of our schools, so it was a huge risk and a huge change.
“Most of our competition are well-established schools that have been around for a long time. We took an analysis of what’s out there and where we can make it different, and that has been very successful for us.
“We had been doing [films] for a long time but we decided, ‘OK, let’s do this professionally,’ so we established New Image Entertainment. It is an arm of our company that allows our students to actually have practical studies with a professional project. They’re not high-budget, but they have a good budget where it can be run professionally and distributed.
“Students are involved in the productions, but the crew and everything are not students – they’re all professionals. It’s a professional production utilizing the core of our student body.
“Everything that we do is practical studies, which has made us very unique. Next year we have an expansion [planned], which is exciting. We’re expanding within our programs in different methods and in location.” •
