During her 30-year career in modeling, Ellen Surat was everywhere.

She was on billboards, in print ads, and in national TV commercials for brands like

Coca-Cola, American Express, Avon, and Clorax.

I did a lot of the early Apple phones.

I did Citibank and all sorts of things that were 20 stories up and huge across Manhattan.

You know, my husband's watching a football game or something, and then suddenly Papa Johns is there and there's me.

But if you saw Surrots on the street, you wouldn't her, because she never showed her face in any of her work.

They called me Queen of the Close Up, the it of cuticles, the supermodel of hands.

Until recently, Surat was one of the nation's top hand models.

That might not sound like a serious job, but professionals like her play a prominent role in advertising.

If you start paying attention, you see hands everywhere.

You see hands on a lot of recipes, a lot of print ads for jewelry or nail polishes, commercials for food

where the hands are in and out serving things.

Nobody can have these picture perfect hands unless you're taking care of your hands full time.

So a hand model always has to be called in if there's a close-up.

It's a profession that requires flawless nail beds, extreme maintenance routines,

and some serious lifestyle adjustments.

But for those who can cut it in the business, there is no shortage of well-paying gigs.

We work with beverage companies, we work with food companies, with watch companies, with jewelry companies,

handbag companies. I tell everybody if you need a hand, you know who to contact.

And luckily, a lot of people do need hands.

For the Freakonomics Radio Network, this is the economics of everyday things. I'm Zachary

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