Born and raised in New York City, Eileen married Jerry Ford and started the Manhatten modelling agency in 1946 called Ford Models. She was instrumental in finding such models as Candice Bergen, Lauren Hutton and Brooke Shields. They were also instrumental in changing the pay scale of the models from hourly or daily pay for work to the contract to use a specific models work. The Ford Modelling Agency was the most important agency in the 1980's as they had the status of high-paid celebrity super models. These included Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Elle Macpherson.