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About The Booking Agency

The Booking Agency is a discovery platform for independent talent and the events, productions, and clients that hire them. We make creative professionals findable in every city they work, across 163+ countries.

Founder story

The platform is built and run by Monique van Bokkum. From 2004 to 2014 Monique ran her first talent booking agency in the Netherlands placing cast, crew, and performers into film, TV, brand campaigns, and live events. After a decade outside the industry, five years running her own beauty and lifestyle magazine and then four as ecosystem manager at a remote-work HR technology company, she returned to the booking world in 2025 with a different question: why is global talent still discovered through local agency relationships? The Booking Agency is the answer she is building. She is based in the Netherlands.

Mission

Help independent talent get discovered globally, in the cities and categories where they work. Help clients find the right person for the right place faster, with real context (city, travel, rates, portfolio) instead of an opaque agency rolodex.

How we work

  • Discovery platform: we index real talent against real cities so the right person surfaces first, wherever the project lives.
  • Subscription model: talent subscribe to be listed; clients browse free.
  • Booking through the platform: clients send an inquiry through the profile. The talent quotes, the client accepts, and payment runs through the platform.
  • Travel-friendly: talent can list service cities and travel mode. Search shows who is local, who travels, and who works remote, on the same page.

By the numbers

163+ countries. 34 industries spanning music, photography, design, modeling, hospitality, wellness, and more. Live counters update from the database and surface on the Open Startup dashboard.

Our team

Monique van Bokkum

Monique van Bokkum

Founder & CEO

Sourcing, platform, and partnerships.

LinkedIn

Technical Consultant

Funded by this raise

Marketing Consultant

Funded by this raise

Three full time from close, one currently in post.

We are bootstrapped and self-funded. No outside investors, no debt, no kill-switch.

Legal

The Booking Agency is operated by Tara Trade International LLC, a Wyoming company formed in 2023. Contracts, payments, and platform terms are with Tara Trade International LLC. Read our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Press and inquiries

For press, partnerships, or media inquiries, use the contact form. Brand assets, founder bio, and high-res logo are on the press page.

Roadmap

We launch publicly in September 2026. After launch the focus is faster city discovery, deeper category coverage, and polishing the talent dashboard so portfolios look great for clients. See the roadmap for what is shipping next and the changelog for what shipped this week.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Booking Agency?

The Booking Agency is a booking platform that helps clients find and hire independent talent and creative professionals in every city, across 160+ countries. Talent list themselves for free. Clients browse, post jobs, and send inquiries at no cost. When a booking happens, we facilitate the contract and the invoice as agent, hold the payment until the engagement has taken place, and pay the talent out afterwards.

Who runs The Booking Agency?

The Booking Agency is operated by Tara Trade International LLC, founded by Monique van Bokkum. The team focuses on giving independent professionals a way to be findable in the cities they work, and giving event teams, agencies, and businesses a faster path to the right person.

How is The Booking Agency different from Upwork or Fiverr?

Two things. First, we are built around city and category discovery rather than job posts, so clients find people who are actually in the right place. Second, the fee sits entirely on the talent side: 15 percent deducted from their payout. Clients pay exactly the price on the quote, with nothing added on top. There is no client-side service fee, no markup, and no bidding.

Is it free to use?

For clients, entirely. Browsing talent, posting jobs, and sending inquiries all cost nothing, and you pay exactly the price shown on a quote you accept. For talent, creating and publishing a profile is free and stays free. Paid tiers exist for extra visibility and tools, and Premium is free during our launch period. A fee of 15 percent only applies when a booking actually happens.

What kinds of freelancers are on the platform?

Photographers, videographers, musicians, DJs, MCs, makeup artists, hair stylists, models, presenters, dancers, event planners, sound engineers, lighting techs, graphic designers, web developers, copywriters, illustrators, voice-over artists, and more across 34 broader industries. The directory leans toward event-day talent and creative production but covers business, tech, and lifestyle services as well.

Which countries do you cover?

We list professionals in 160+ countries and 340K+ cities, with the strongest density in Western Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, and major capitals. Coverage grows with sign-ups, so smaller cities fill in over time. Payouts at launch are supported for the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, and the European Economic Area, so talent elsewhere are discoverable but not yet bookable.

How do I get started?

Clients can browse and post jobs without an account, or sign up to save shortlists and send inquiries. Talent sign up at /signup and build a profile in five to ten minutes with photos, services, rates, and availability, then appear in city and category searches. There is no application or approval queue.

Do you take a cut of bookings?

Yes, and only from the talent side. Fifteen percent is deducted from the talent payout on a facilitated booking: 10 percent platform fee and 5 percent for payment handling, payouts, holding of funds, and dispute management. The talent keeps 85 percent. Clients pay exactly the price shown and nothing is added on top. If no booking happens, we earn nothing.