BBC and FAT GIRLS

See what the BBC has to say about plus size models, aka fat girls:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16259070

2nd Official Photoshoot

As a model, you are supposed to "test"--meaning you find photographers who will take photos of you for free in exchange for the prints. However, I'm having a hard time findging photographers who will do that. when I tell them that I am "plus", they get so confused and think Im "fat'. No I am not fat, I am "plus", meaning I am the average size of the average American. I do not know if it because I do not live in New York or what, but boy am I struggling.So my agent set up another photoshoot for me this summer,Summer 2011.Yes, again, it was mighty pricey but everything was pretty much the same-- photographer, and makeup artist.This time my makeup artist was a Latino lady.Cool. She was funny and quite talkative. My photograpgher was an Asian woman.She was nice.same thing -- three different outfits.This time I am going with the bangs look.Again, I did more of what the photographer wanted and not really what i wanted, but when I decided to do what I wanted , the photos came out GREAT!! However, it was the photographers idea to put me in a bunch of bracelets and necklaces, and those pictures came out so ridiculously beautiful.I love them. I can not post them online because I am not supposed to post photos which are part of my official modeling portfolio.Actually this photo (the one in the beginning of this post) is not in my portfolio, not this version- this is a sampling of the necklace and bracelet photos we took:

Another photo I LOVE is one that was my idea.i had a head wrap, a duku is what we call it in Ghana. I took the cloth,wrapped it around my head and took photos with it.i absolutely LOVE MY HEADWRAP photos, because it shows me in an African light.Out of all the photos I have ever taken, the one with the head wrap is the one I love the most, next is the jewelry one.But you know what, lots of photos came out quite fab from this photoshoot.My blue dress photos with the fake wind blowing photos look specatcular as well. Modeling is a longgggggg process but I love seeing the final outcome.Again, my agent asked me why I went to the shoot looking normal.Why should I waste MY makeup which I have paid for when the makeup artist is just going to wipe it off and put her own stuff on my face??? My agent insists that I go to photoshoots looking like a model.But WHY!! I understand that in terms of casting, but why a photoshoot? I am PAYING for a makeup artist, so why must I show up looking like a model with my face already painted?!?!?!? I guess Im still fresh in this game, so for now, thats just something that I still do not understand.

CASTINGS--A YEARS WORTH

What is a Casting? A casting is an audition-- thats it.My first three castings were with O Magazine in the Hearst building in New York City.Now I do not live in New York, I live 4 hours away,and I usually find out about a casting the day before, so that means I have to take off from work and take a train or bus into New York when there is a casting. Like I said, MODELING IS NOTTTTTTTTTT EASY!!! Its not, at all.

First O Magazine casting -- I got there.i was there wilth a nother agency model.while waiting, Gayle King walked in, so we got to say hi to her.that was cool. But then supposedly the casting agent had to go to a meeting and did not feel like seeing us, so we were told to go home. Um ok.

Second O Magazine casting -- I got to New York by train.I knew before hand that the casting was for a makeover.Well if its for a makeover, why dress up, right? So I got there, met the sweet girl who was in charge of casting.She had me fill out some paper work and then she called over her caucsian supervisor who was a robust man with beautiful curly hair.he askedme what i did, where i was from and what I was about.They took a polaroid of me and then I left..Later my agent called me and informed me that I did not get this job because I went there looking like crap.which was true.Why would I dress up and look like a "model" when the story is a makeover story?why would they choose me for a makeover if I go there looking like a model??that was my thinking.But my agent was like ,"NO NO NO!! YOU ALWAYS go to a casting looking GQ.ALWAYS!! So I guess I blew this casting.Sorry

Third O Magazine casting -- I got to New York--again.This time I went looking like a model. It was the same girl again doing the information collection.She actually told me I looked "beautiful". Thanks. She had me try on a pair of pants and guess what? They were too big.So she told me I was "too skinny" for the job.Can you imagine?? Me , too skinny?? HOW!!!I tried on a red shirt,capri high water pants and she said I was "too skinny" for the job. Is this a joke? I cant believe this.i am like a size 14/16, Im well endowed at the top and bottom, all real, and she is telling me I'm too skinny?? YIKES!!! My agent thought this was quite an interesting comment, to say the least.

Good Housekeeping Audition: I got to this audition and two other girls from my agency were there.we had a good time just talking about whatever .When the people called me in to see me, I believe one of the girls name was Heidi .It was Heidi and her boss. They were both ridiculously pleasant.The story was a jeans story,so I tried on jeans from Candy Johnson's jean collection.The jeans fit great and they said they like the way I looked.But i didnt get the job.Boo hoo for me,another rejection.

You know what? Modeling is like , I dont know, its so random,You NEVER know what the person doing the casting is looking for.You might be too big, too small, too dark, too light, wrong hair,etc. You can NEVER get it right..at all.So you really have to have HIGH Self confidence, or else you will melt.Modeling is not for the weak hearted.You have to believe in yourself and have confidence or else you will end up getting like 100 surgeries to change your outer appearance. I can add height by wearing heels and I can always change my hair by using wigs.But i can not change my skin color, teeth, body shape, so it is what it is.Take it or leave it.

While I was in Ghana in March 2011, my agent supposedly had a casting for me but i was in Africa, so i missed it....sorry.

November 2011---Another casting-- with Black Enterprise and Madison Plus--a casting for holiday wear for Plus size women.I met with a girl named daisy and tried on some dresses.i also met Aimee from Madison Plus-- that girl is quite sweet.Two days later I found out I got the job!! YEAH..!!!So i went back to New York and on the day of the "job' the makeup artist and the hair designer did my hair (cut up a phat weave for me) andthe makeup artist, a guy, did my makeup.When the show was ready to go,i simply wore a red dress and stood next to the host, looking like a mannequin, while she talked about the red dress I was wearing.That was it.
Here's a picture I took while I was waiting for the other model to get ready:




Click here to see the final product: http://www.blackenterprise.com/2011/12/06/working-your-style-plus-size-holiday-fashion-for-curvy-women

I got to the place around 9 am and did not leave until like 3:30..nothing like a full day of modeling.yep, thats what modeling is,it can be simple or complex.But no matter what, it takes FOREVER!! My official photoshoot with Ligretsi had taken like 9 hours--9 hours!!! thats a long time, so you better eat well before you go to castings/photoshoots/jobs you have been picked for.

December 2011: BET : I had an audition at CBS studios in New York for a BET fashion show.This was a different kind of casting--lots of people, lots of chaos, but I dont know .We shall see.

THE FIRST PHOTOSHOOT-New York City-Winter 2010

After I got signed, my agent made me come to New York and do an official photo shoot which cost hundreds of dollars. Modeling is EXPENSIVE!!! No, my company did NOT pay for it. I had to pay for it out of pocket, and trust me, it was NOT CHEAP. It was ridiculously expensive. I went to New York and met with the photograpgher and makeup artist.My makeup artist was a lady who worked with big American stars and models and my photographer was Roberto Ligretsi, a kind, pleasant Italian man. After i got the makeup done and hair, it was time to start taking shots.The first shot was a close up-- this was my first REAl photoshoot. It was different than my pre-model shoot because i had to listen to them, so i felt like a robot,I felt really stiff. But when I gave them my ideas, the pictures turned out the best.My makeup artist,Robyn, was sweet, but she told me she wasnt feeling well, so she was a bit on edge at times.She would tell me to do one thing and the photographer would say something else--yikes, who am I supposed to listen to??? She would tell me to smile a certain way, position my body a certain way-- she was helpful though because i think she said she used to be a model.after the close up head shot, we did three more shots with different hair and different makeup and diffeerent locations.We event went outside.The lighting wasnt working that well outside. We did the rooftop one and the street one.At the end, Robyn did not come out with us because she was super exhausted , so i took a brush and touched up my own hair.believe it or not, these pix turned out really well too because i just did what I wanted to do.Im learning that yes, you must take direction, but you must also do what feels good to YOU because it will always show in the pictures. I can go through my pictures and show you which ones I did on my own and which ones were posed. But at the end of the day,Ligretsi and Robyn were happy with the photos.More importantly, my agent, who would call the makeup artists every now and then, was happy too.As long as she was happy,I was happy.Yes, those first "official" photos came out marvelous.They were like my "test".. and they came out magnificent.

HOW I GOT STARTED

I have never wanted to be a model. I never grew up saying" I want to be a model". Instead, I grew up saying I wanted to be an astronaut-- all the way through high school-SSS. But then I took Calculus, hated it and went to university and majored in Economics again.Not bad. Then I attended graduate school. Then I got a real job which came with real bills and real responsibility. Then I fell in love--2x. Then i had bad break ups--2x. Then after the last break up, after it took me like a year to recover, in 2010, I decided to take charge of my life and go take pictures just for the fun of it-- in New York,why not, right? It was time to stop being and feeling depressed.I do not live in New York so going to New York was a big trip for me. I found a great photograpgher who took crazy pix of me,I was allowed to do whatever i wanted to do. The late Mia Amber was supposed to be my stylist, but honestly, I did not see the need in paying someone for something I wanted to do for fun.I spoke to her on the phone once and kinds told her I wasn't sure about getting a stylist.Once i secured my plans, she basically told me that she would be at the shoot but wouldnt have time to help me and that she would be busy the whole day.Thanks. So i get to new York, get to photographers, and had three custome changes. the shoot was fantastic. It was a birthday gift to myself. I saw the pictures and i was like WOW!! Unphotoshopped, I looked pretty damn good if I may say so myself. So here I was, Ihad like 300 pictures, which looked great, I mean, I liked them.In about 2 weeks, the photograpgher sent me the photos on CD, un retouched.And i loved evry single one.I had different haor, outfits, body bends.. I was allowed to do what I wanted to do in the shoots and it was great.
Ok, but what was I realy going to do with 300+ photos...of me nonetheless.Well Im dark, had a great wig on in the pix, and so I sat down one day and said," maybe someone will like these pictures too." Wilhelmina wants you to go there live when they have castings, so I took them out.If i could have emailed a pic, that would have been great because they were my number one choice but I did not have the time to go there.So instead, I sent my pic to every single other modeling company in America..and I mean every one. Just for the hell of it. I sent them an unretouched photo of me and my dark skin..me the way i am.I even sent some of me wearing kente cloth. I called one company because I could not find their online submission button.when i called the lady, she was quite blunt and seemed rude. I was kinda shocked by her tone of talk and nearly didnt send it.but you know what, I sent it to her anyway, knowing nothing would come out of it.Guess what? That lady who seemed mean and impatient on the phone is the EXACT same lady who offered me a 2 year modeling contract the next day.yep. I dont know if she realizes that I was the one she spoke to the day before, but yep, she offered me a two year contract, with the New York office, and I signed it in August 2010.that contract officially made me a "Plus Size" model.Not only that, but the only Ghanaian plus size model with a U.S modeling contract.There are a lot of firsts that come with this contract so Im excited to see where it will lead.

PLUS SIZE MODEL -THIS IS IT

Ok, here I am. I have been thinking about making this blog for a YEAR now and I just havent had the time. But today, I realized that I am the ONLY GHANAIAN plus size model with a U.S modeling contract.Therefore, it is my DUTY to create a blog, no/Yes. So this blog is dedicated to all the girls out there who have ever considered modeling and didnt do it because they were told they were too short, too black, African, or all of the above. I am 100% African, I'm dark, and I have a legitimate modeling contract.Some of the girls in my agency have modeled for Apple Bottom Jeans, Oprah magazine, good Housekeeping, BET, HM, and more. So this is the beginning of something great. So what Im going to do is backtrack and then you can see how I got to where I am now. So the next entry will be a summary of how I got here.