‘It has been a mad hustle to achieve my dreams but to be sincere, if I was given another chance in life, I will do it all over again’ – Brown Chiamaka

Every industry has their struggle but that of the modeling industry is kind of unique. It’s still baffling that an industry indirectly so instrumental to influencing the perception of consumers and directly determining sales numbers of various brands in the Nigerian business world is more or less a struggling industry. Hearing models talk about their struggles and survival is strange but uplifting. Behind those pretty faces, and those slim and full figured bodies of theirs, lie a surviving spirit that does not care about make-up. Struggling to survive societal perceptions that believe modeling is not a respectable career path, waiting several hours for auditioning; getting paid late or half paid, putting up smiles for photo shoots even when not confident, and risking traveling the length and breadth to meet up with various auditions, have not deterred models from achieving their goals and staying focused. The result of their hard work is becoming obvious these days with various models living their dreams and making successes of themselves. One model that knows about all of these is Brown Chiamaka popularly called Debbie Brown by her colleagues.
Steadily and consistently, she is one of those modeling their way to stardom but her journey has been far from easy.

‘It has not been an easy journey but interesting’. I encountered the good and bad but it’s been God all the way. At first my mum didn’t want me to go into the modeling industry. She’s of the belief that models are known to be prostitutes. Over the years, I tried my best to convince her. It has been a mad hustle to achieve my dreams but to be sincere, if I was given another chance in life, I will do it all over again. At a point, I lost courage. I felt like quitting but a friend of mine who was a photographer talked me out. The first question was ‘Debbie, the very first day you went into the modeling industry, what were the goals you set out to achieve?’ I slowly replied, ‘I want to be a super model.’ He then smiled and said, ‘Debbie do you still want to achieve that goal?’ I replied, ‘YES.’ He advised that it’s going to require hard work and self-confidence. That was my moment of recharge; I have not looked back since then. I got signed onto GnG Models management that year in June and it’s been God all the way. I have made inroads into areas that once looked like dead ends.

What are the limitations in the industry so far?

Models who don’t have the opportunity to be in a well known agency have much limitations; like they get doubly screened at auditions and that always leads to separation of models at times. I think that’s a major limitation. Also, not getting paid as at when due or getting half paid by designers is also painful.

Apart from runway, editorial modeling, what else will you love to venture into?

(Smiles) My dream as a model is to excel in the modeling field and to have my own clothing line. Apart from modeling I have this dream of becoming a fashion designer and a TV presenter.

– Sesan Adeniji

Culled from the latest edition of Mystreetz Magazine