Stavros Merjos

Working food service should be mandatory for all citizens, like jury duty or paying taxes. It teaches young people humility and demonstrates humanity at its worst, making most subsequent jobs seem easy by comparison. Staying at such jobs for too long, however, can lead to burnout, lack of self-worth and arrested adolescence.

How many former high-fashion models would hang a painting of a dead rat over their beds? But then Honor Fraser, who worked for the likes of Alexander McQueen and Yohji Yamamoto during her catwalk career, isn't your typical ex-top model. Since retiring eight years ago, the British-born scion of Scottish nobility moved to L.A., married film producer Stavros Merjos and had a son, Roscoe, 3, who "never sits still."

"Roll cameras," instructs commercial director Zack Snyder. "Here we go." A gymnast nails a one-handed handstand as red-nosed clowns in oversize shoes waddle after her onto a Hollywood sound stage. It's all part of a grand, circus-themed commercial for a large fast-food chain--the sort of elaborately produced TV spot that has helped put HSI Productions on the map.