Willow Faygenholtz

Willow Faygenholtz — known professionally as Willow Star — is a full-time commercial model based in Chicago who works throughout the Midwest on print, digital, and broadcast campaigns for some of the most recognizable brands in America. Originally from Santa Cruz, California, Willow Faygenholtz moved to Chicago to finish school and quickly built a portfolio that now spans more than a decade of continuous commercial work. Her client list reads like a cross-section of household names: Nutella, McDonald's, GE Appliances, KitchenAid, Crate and Barrel, Harley Davidson, Kohler, Aldi, Radio Flyer, Land's End, Caesar's Rewards, and Ocean Spray. She has appeared on billboards for New York Jewelers and works as a recurring TV model for Chicago's NBC, Fox, and WGN affiliate stations, giving her a visible on-screen presence that extends beyond traditional print modeling.

Dance Training and Physical Expressiveness

What sets Willow Faygenholtz apart from other commercial models in the Chicago market is the physical expressiveness she brings to every set. A dancer since childhood, trained in ballet, jazz, and hip hop, she performed in local talent shows in Santa Cruz before incorporating that movement background into her modeling career. That dance training translates directly into campaign work — an intuitive sense of body positioning, fluid transitions between poses, and the kinetic energy that commercial directors look for when casting talent who will look natural and alive in motion-based advertising. Beyond the camera, Willow serves as a special guest speaker and TV personality for fundraising and educational events focused on the power of self-confidence and following your passion, positioning her as both a working model and a motivational presence in the Chicago creative community.

Photographing Willow

Willow is one of my favorites. There are only a handful of modeling agencies in town, and for most models the game is to get signed and then let the agency manage the brand. That was never Willow's approach. She has been signed for as long as I have known her, yet she has always stayed in complete control of her own brand, which is what working with a personal branding photographer is really about. In my opinion she is the hardest-working model in the business: she does not wait for things to happen, she makes them happen, a hustler in the best possible sense. The proof is in the work: a national ad campaign for New York Jewelers, and a range that runs from bridal to fitness to editorial, with the tear sheets to back it up. When new models ask me how to build model headshots into an actual career, I point them to Willow. And for anyone weighing whether headshots for women in Chicago are worth the investment, her book is the answer.

The Portrait

This professional headshot, photographed by Michael Schacht at 312 Elements in Chicago, captures the approachable warmth and commercial magnetism that have kept Willow Faygenholtz in front of the camera for major retail, food, appliance, and lifestyle brands year after year. The soft, even lighting and genuine smile communicate the friendly accessibility that makes her so effective in consumer-facing advertising — the kind of face that audiences trust instinctively, whether she is holding a Nutella jar, sitting on a Harley Davidson, or presenting a KitchenAid mixer in a lifestyle catalog. For brands, agencies, and casting directors seeking a versatile, reliable commercial model with deep Midwest market experience and proven national brand credentials, this portrait by 312 Elements represents exactly the professional polish and personality that Willow Star delivers on every shoot.