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About

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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 160+ 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-long stint outside the industry building international travel and trade businesses, she returned to the booking world in 2024 with a different question: why is global talent still discovered through local agency relationships? The Booking Agency is the answer she is building. Operations are based in Thailand and serve a worldwide audience.

Mission

Help independent talent get discovered globally without an intermediary taking a cut from each booking. 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. No per-booking fee on either side, ever.
  • Direct contact: clients reach talent through the profile. The conversation, the agreement, and the work all live between the two parties.
  • 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

340,000+ city pages. 160+ 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.

Team

  • Monique van Bokkum - Founder. Sourcing, platform, and partnerships. LinkedIn.
  • Andrew - Head of Marketing. Content, growth, and PR.

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 limited liability company formed in 2025. All contracts, payments, and platform terms are with Tara Trade. Full company details on the Tara Trade page.

Press and inquiries

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

Roadmap

We launch publicly on July 1, 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 discovery platform that helps clients find freelancers and creative professionals in every city across 160+ countries. Talent list themselves and pay a subscription to be discoverable; clients browse, post jobs, and reach out at no cost. You book and pay each other directly without us in the middle of the transaction.

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 freelancers a way to be findable in the cities they work, and giving event teams, agencies, and businesses a faster path to the right person. We are independent and self-funded.

How is The Booking Agency different from Upwork or Fiverr?

We are a discovery platform on a subscription model. Talent pay to be listed; clients use the platform at no cost. You agree on terms with the talent and arrange the engagement directly, without an in-platform booking layer.

Is it free to use?

Yes. Browsing talent, posting jobs, and contacting any talent are all free for clients. The Free tier for talent is permanent and requires no credit card. Premium upgrades start at $9.99 per month and unlock featured placement, advanced search, saved shortlists, and direct messaging. You can stay on Free indefinitely.

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?

The Booking Agency lists professionals in 160+ countries and 339K+ cities, with the strongest density in Western Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, and major capital cities globally. Coverage scales with talent sign-ups, so smaller cities fill in over time. Use the search to see who is active in a given city today.

How do I get started?

Clients can browse and post jobs without an account, or sign up to save shortlists and message talent. Talent sign up at /signup, 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?

No. The Booking Agency is a discovery platform on a subscription model. Talent subscribe to be listed; clients use the platform at no cost. You and the talent agree on terms and arrange the engagement directly, without an in-platform booking layer.