If you want to be a model, learn the industry watch fashion shows, etc. I have to start there because many people want to be models yet know nothing about the industry or fashiion.  Like a poet that never heard of Maya Angelou or a filmmaker who does not know Spike Lee or Hitchock.

Do you have to be "pretty" to be a model? Well, that is only one consideration. These days they putting anyone on the cover of Vogue. Because what places like Vogue like to do is SHOCK YAH! So skinny, asexual, dehydrated, and anemic might be the new look for them. And while the woke community is celebrating the rise of "Black" women please note for all the black women they exploit none of it is a statement of acceptance of African beauty. It is more often than not an exploitation of so-called "Black beauty". Finding the darkest person on Earth with the most shocking features is not done because there is a new value in these features. It is not a sign of acceptance of diversity. They want shock value. It is a corrupt industry geared to make you feel uncomfortable to keep looking at their cover. And we have to ask, why pick a jet black model and then run an editorial on "how proud she is to be dark skin"? Then it suggests dark skin is a disadvantage they are living with. What does it do for prejudice within society? It is not there to fix it. On a positive, it does challenge conventions but only after first servicing exploitation of diversity. So we challenge the exploitation of so-called "African Beauty" by Western Capitalism. You know when they take trips to Sudan and pluck people with shocking features out of the villages for their own profits.

Because it is not Africans redefining beauty standards as free agents. It is Europeans doing it to create a shock. This is not to say those deeply dark skin models are pretty or ugly--that is not the point here. Equally those ultra-pale albino European models with pointy teeth are there for shock. Nothing inclusive about their motives. 

But what we call "pretty" in common speech is not always what is "pretty" when it comes to modeling. Many a pretty girl do not look unique enough in front of the camera. If you are short or do not have a nice shape (as a woman) that would affect you more than if you are pretty or not. So I think body build is coming on top along with good skin conditioning. I do not think anyone wants to be using makeup to cover up bad skin. Nor do photo editors like airbrushing damaged skin. Make-up is there to enhance and be artistic. So if you are using it to cover up a whole heap of issues it will score against you. Now I just spoke about 50% of the physical things. the rest of the 50% is made up of your attitude. How happy you are to work with. One model is taking those pictures and blowing them up on Instagram. Good for the clothing company, good for their career. A model who is always suggesting new things and pushing and learning is the person you want to work with. Goes back to if you do something, do it well! give 100%.

WESTERN STANDARD VS AFRICAN STANDARDS

At Ocacia we are going for African hips. We not looking for women that look like 11-year-old boys. When it comes to skin color we are actively promoting African skin. What does that mean? It means all the skin colors Africans come in are beautiful. Light skin, dark skin, jet black skin makes no difference all are equal. Ethiopian hair, South African hair, mixed-race hair, all equal. Locks, ball head once it is natural and African we are celebrating it! These is our African standards not those imposed by anyone. Because a lot of light skin mixed-race girls get gigs in the UK, which causes the backlash so much so to suggest "they do not represent black beauty" is absolute nonsense. Yes, they do. But the issue is not if they do or do not but when people cast one type of African as superior 9/10 to other types of Africans. Then it creates the impression that light skin and green eyes is better. For us African is African. The Amhara is 100% African just like the Dinka is 100% African--full stop! I think it is only when it comes to Africans do we have a concept of "more or less African" based upon color. How come people of India are just Indian if there are natives and not graded based upon skin color? The jet black Indian and the almost white Indian are called Indian without any suggestions one is "more Indian" than the other. But from slavery we have been programmed with this attitude that a straight nose is a more European nose. How could this be when Africans have had so-called straight noses in Ancient Egypt? You will find straight noses even in South Africa. It is not only Ethiopians and Somali people with those features in Africa. Many groups also share these African features like people from Rwanda, the Masai and Samburu, the Fulani, on and on. So much so that as Cheikh Anta Diop said there is not one type of African. 

This world puts a different burden on women than does on men when it comes to fashion. We are not here to change it all. But one thing we are here to change is to make sure sisters with natural hair get the jobs first 9/10. We will also make sure all types of Africans are represented. Straight nose, flat nose, light skin, dark skin, curly hair, tight hair, dreads, ball head, afro, Habesha, Bantu, Niger-Congo, Diaspora, mixed-ancestry, everyone African. We are a Pan-African designer label and want to be in control of the image of Africans via our work. A sister just came for an audition and we said come back when your hair is natural. We have found nothing looks better with our African clothes than the hair gave our sisters.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY AS A MODE

To make money as a model is to build a high-quality portfolio and to get that portfolio you better know how to model. Which is way more than what you do in your selfies. Modeling is a profession and you have to also understand the photography, and business side of it. Someone advertising their clothes is only using you to model them. It is not about you! it is about advertising the clothes. A photographer directs you, but you are supposed to know how to pose aka model. If you have no track record and are not professional you will earn next to nothing. Models should look like models day and night. They not suppose to be rough with unkept fingers and toes, or smell like common folk. Models represent what everyone wants to be so you should maintain that lifestyle to attract big bucks. And while people think ego is a big part of it, it is the opposite. People here to work and get on with a  job not deal with attitude. There are way more wannabe models than there are professional photographers and fashion houses. So if you are "too busy" to let the photographer set up then take a hike.