 We are going to be a very interesting lifestyle Wednesday as we have modules in the studio for you tonight and we are talking about modeling in Africa. We have Jamal Onange who is a trainer and the African models international. We also have Fahith Kinyaka who is a supervisor of the modules that we are going to be showcasing tonight. So what we seek to understand today is why do we have, why should we put modeling as something that people are supposed to pursue? What are the challenges that are there? Some of the young models are high school students. You also seek to know how they get to balance the modeling work and also their school work. So to start off today Jamal, can you tell us who are you? Yes, from the details I have a trainer and African international models but can you tell us more about African international? African international actually is a modeling agency. Actually we focus on actually enhancing talent among the youth and now the majorly we focus on all round talent but now today we have to talk about the models because we actually see them grow to that big industry from local to the international level. So Fahith, I can see you are also Miss Kenya United Nations. Can you first tell us what's your title, what's your title, what's the meaning of your title? Okay, United Nation Pageant is a pageant that focuses on charity. Two weeks ago it happened in India Jalanda and I won the title United Nation Ambassador 2019 but I take no pride in carrying this Kenya title. Okay, so we know that behind every title, every work, every talent and all that there are certain characteristics that you look out for. What makes a good model? As you pick models under the Africa African international models what are the characteristics that you look out for? Actually every talent the first thing that goes with any talent is discipline. Once you have discipline then you go places. Second good training. Good training is actually something very very important because if you get good training then who beat you you have to be good. Another thing is that okay be outstanding. You have to sound outstanding so you have to be the best. So when we are selecting our models we look at your etiquette, your behaviour, your discipline that is what you focus on. Okay, faith, you're a supervisor but you're also a model. What would you say are some of the challenges that the model in industry in Kenya go through and how do you get to to deal with them because I can see from the models that we have we have even very young girls. You're a person who has been there before. What are some of the guidelines that you get to give to these young girls so that they get to the point that you are at right now? First of all the hardest challenges that models face in Kenya right now is the low payments. If you get models to work for long hours and they get very little payments and this is because some models in Kenya have passed themselves like they can work for free. Now the companies cannot get this serious model where they can pay baby like we can get models to work for free while paying to get this. Okay so what would you say now how do we solve that challenge? Every model should not be here. Okay for you Jamal, being the trainer and these are some of the things that you have that you've talked about discipline. Faith talking about the challenge of not being paid well. How do you make sure that your models in Africa international don't feel wasted, are appreciated because appreciating someone gives them the motivation to want to move forward? Actually you know let me talk about Africa. We give you that platform actually to to stage yourself and take a big platform so you won't even go that low to be paid payments. You see it depends with you as a model what do you want. Do you want to be paid low? Do you want to be an international model? Then you yourself here to classify yourself. You see yes models go through a lot through a lot but now at some point I will see that it's actually the models themselves who actually put themselves into this. Okay you see like an example somebody would want to like you are going for a pageant to compete and then you feel like now I know the judge one of the judges there so you try bribing the judges. Okay. You see and that at the end of the day it is not you representing yourself actually you're representing yourself and the judge who's judge due because out there if you mess they'll be asked who judged you, who actually selected you. So even judges also have a problem you receive bribes. Okay. You see but now when it comes in afric models we train you to an extent that okay you have that class. You see you wouldn't even think of even bribing a judge because you believe in yourself, you trust in yourself because the training that you got from the afric is better than any other place. Okay. There's a challenge of most some parents don't believe in talents. They believe that the only way for us to make it in life is go to class, get a good grade and maybe become a doctor, become an engineer and all that. How do you try, how do you make sure that you bring in the parents on the table and convince them that investing in your child's talent is also something that is going to yield into beautiful things in the future. This is going to put your child in a certain platform and they can also become independent just on the talent path. How do you get to do that? Um majorly I will talk about all around talent not all parents support talented students but let me tell you one thing when it comes to modeling some parents think like ah you're just going to waste your time on that but now the fashion industry needs models and this is just like any other job you see and actually when you focus the government now CBC is actually encouraging talent right now we have parents who are not really into talent they believe it's books books books but at some point you might find like this kid um won't even make it because okay maybe her understanding is very low oh the kid is a slow learner so once we engage them into that because even you in school you knew some students were good in theory some were good in practical so it's it applies in any other thing that those kids who are good in books right but that those who can do good when it comes to talent so as a parent and just help that kid to grow because now who are the celebrities they've gone through the same yeah yeah okay so uh fidd when did you start modeling i started in 2016 uh while in college nips college uh there was audition for mr and miss nips college pageant and i went i was i never got the chance so i was taken as a curtain raiser again 2017 i tried and i got the chance to be a contestant i appeared as top six later on i joined afric models through jamal has been my trainer throughout from 2018 i got the title miss essence kenya and now miss united nation ambassador 2019 okay did you have any challenges at any point convincing your parents to support your modeling career yeah of course because in the community they come from they don't believe in this modeling thing most of them think like it's not prostitution uh something like that which is a very sad thing yeah sure so how did you now get to bring your parents on board i had to talk with my brothers who explained later on to my dad and uh after they started seeing results which are good they started supporting me okay uh so jamal with uh the the models we have today participated uh in a model pageant in india what is the experience when you get to take them out of the country and take them on an international platform what would you say are some of the things that they get to learn from there that they we don't so far have in this country actually uh when it comes to kenya they always focus on the runway cut walk and all that but now when it comes on international level we have interview you train them how to speak in public you train them on how to cut walk and actually have that confidence we train them on how to win a pageant because now in kenya he is like okay you hit the runway you've been trained on how to walk then that's your own right but now we try to make them feel like international once they come back here you can see the transformation in them they actually changed totally you could see like the way they were carrying out themselves from before and now it's totally different okay uh so we these are these are some of the models are high school students uh how do you make sure that even as they go through their modeling training uh probably which i believe happens during the holidays they don't forget their books they don't forget that they have assignments that they have to do and time is gonna come they'll have to go back to school they have to be perfect in them in their talents and also perfect in their books because i believe the two needs need each other to work well afric models work closely with their parents you see and we actually keep them up and out if you don't perform well then you don't come to africa you have to perform better you have to work hard and be good so that once we see your results because they always send us their results before they come to afric for training so we get to know their results how good are you how did you improve so once you you've improved now we see okay now you can come and i'll get trainings but if you don't perform well then you won't come yeah uh what are some of your achievements faith so far since you joined modeling what would you say is something that you've been able to achieve that makes you feel proud of yourself and not ever regret joining that industry number one i've been able to visit so many countries east africa and outside africa for modeling career and also i hate the running for so here in fashion week yeah okay so this is something that uh you would advise a fellow young girl a fellow young man to venture in so two young girls and young boys watching us tonight what is the message that you tell them and uh send them a message on how they can pursue their talents not only model we have people who want who can sing if people can draw we have people who can act and all that in this entertainment industry it's very competitive and uh they they should always be in mind that they are they are safe to succeed is what set them separate is what separates them from the rest they should always keep god first and uh they should not get worried when they don't get recognized instead they should work hard to be worthy of that recognition okay well thank you very much i'm going to uh i would like us to introduce the modules that we have with us on studio tonight because i like them to say their names tell us what their titles are because i have noticed that the titles of uh modules under the afric international are very unique something that i think uh we don't we're not only talking about beauty we can see there's beauty and the breadth so our dear models please come this way and walk for us tonight just victoria just come this way yes okay go that way and just stand next to fame yes this is our smallest and most beautiful mm-hmm well come then the next one we have natalie and then we have laurel thank you very much guys as you can see our viewers back at home these are the models under the afric international models and i want to start with you victoria victoria how are you i'm fine uh can you tell us what is your title my title is let me start 2019 and how old are you i'm nine this is really a challenge to parent jamal that we don't need to wait for our children to get to 18 years to to give them such platforms why did you choose modeling because uh one of the six is i love to watch people who model people who wear long dresses and wear them so my mom knew that i love modeling so she took me to african society oh that is so nice joy how are you can you tell us what is your title victoria adds at the microphone to joy your title is misting grand prix what is what is the meaning of that for someone watching us why modeling why not acting and how do you find the modeling industry so far to me modeling is just like it's my i like it since childhood mm-hmm okay and then we have natali lillan how are you natali your title is misting goodwill international 2019 why did you get that title because first of all i want you to have this chance okay uh is that the only reason that is it because you only worked for because i can see it's goodwill which means there must be something unique about it uh bring jamal to tell us more about the uh the crowns and then we have uh loren hi how are you your title is misting charity international when did you start modeling and so far how would how do you find the modeling industry it's good i can add the things out there what i think really helps like love travel to some country i mean to randa and randa and i'm from india okay so jamal i want to bring you in on these uh the titles that i can see here we used to see in miss kenya miss world kenya and hothos but these titles are very unique what is the reason behind all of them first of all uh you have to know that actually they are not competing um with just a few countries actually the whole world you see and actually they might the best as you can see them because of the trainings that they got um like if we talk about um goodwill international it's about the way you relate with people the way you interact with people at the bootcamp so it gives you that title and actually getting that is very hard because they monitor you and whatever you do it and now when it comes to the grand prix grand prix actually it's a it's a title of a chief in in france so once they see the leadership in europe so they crown you that leadership you see now when charity it's it explains itself yes yeah it's all about charity you see so these models actually are competed with so many models out there you see now they might the best and that's why they're here they represented the whole kenya okay faith uh you supervise these girls you walk with you walk them through different stages in their modeling uh career so far what would you say makes these models unique to other models that we have because model agencies are very many uh we have um very many models but what do you think makes these ones good models uh they are a solution to succeed and also their parents have been so supportive first we must get these models from their school like i've gone to their schools we take them from their school when they know nothing about modeling when they come to their own outro our national audition we select the best not actually the best but if we see you have the potential we give you that opportunity to remain at our academy where jamal trains them to be the best and of course their parents have been so supportive in terms of finances and everything that is required they are first to help okay so jamal yes these uh they went to India they have these titles what next for them each and every model must have a project and they can even tell you their projects they do have projects in which they have to focus on that because modeling is not just walking on the runway it's beauty with brains and then you have to help give back to the society when you talk about projects maybe what are some of the activities that you get to uh give them like um we have uh different projects that they have and now we support them like if it's uh helping the um lucky the uh vulnerable we go with them uh give them that encourage encouragement we talk to those uh kids and all that yeah so we help them in so many ways like actually uh preparing them to the society okay uh so i would like to take these to our models now um let me kind of give the microphone to victoria victoria you're nine years old and i can say that i'm very proud of you uh to be little miss uh charity is not just easy but why how do you manage to balance uh school to help your mom with the house chores and to make sure that you're also doing well in your modeling career first i'm focused mostly on school and the trip starts while the school is up that's how i balance it okay uh so um natali how do you balance school and modeling because the message you like us to pass today is that all things are possible uh that parents should not feel like if they give their children the platform or the opportunity to focus on their talents that they're not going to achieve uh anything in their curriculum in their curricula activities so how do you manage to balance school and modeling okay um during the morning days and i make like a time table or a schedule so that i can balance my studies my curricula activities so that i don't forget the school up and i will also focus on my modeling perfectives okay uh so fave we love these girls i'm sure now most of them maybe they someone who wants to do modeling fully they someone who wants to balance between the two besides modeling what else uh do you have other activities that you do personally yes yes yeah i work with africana sa production which is a film production company that focuses on this young talent and for us to get this talent we go to their schools when they they are in school we get to audition the students and when the school closes we invite them for the national audition okay come showcase their talents okay uh for people watching us at home today for parents for young girls for young boys who would like to venture into them into modeling but they don't know they don't have a uh they don't have a mentor because you see i might have a dream but i don't have someone to hold my head and tell me this is how you're supposed to go about it what would you like to say uh to them today jamal um i'll tell you just believe in yourself then um once you believe in yourself and that that passion then go for it because um afric models is here for you we're ready to receive you love and all that okay uh lauren i'd like you to talk to young girls like you what advice would you give them someone a young girl somewhere in whether in a town or anywhere in these in these um county to talk about modeling at young girls during the holidays maybe associate with something that will give you positive things to do not don't like don't do drugs and maybe promote your sex which will end up having other pregnancies um and maybe if you have that talent they have helped me really okay so i'll just add the young girls out there to work for their talents maybe you have the talent so jamal as we as we wind up before i get more remarks from the from the models if someone wants to join africa nasa productions someone wants to maybe they can act they can see because understand that you don't only focus on modeling maybe you can share your social media platforms and how they can reach you uh on facebook they can actually visit africa nasa production for modeling uh you can visit afric models international that is a double f r i k and also i would actually request them to actually come uh we have our national auditions on 7th of december which will happen uh currents and Elizabeth calls so you can come there and then you can you you'll meet us there then we'll give you that platform to showcase your talent okay i'll phase your final remarks in these your closing remarks what would you want to say to parents to students to young people in campuses who want to pursue talents but they don't think they have the support system that is very very very uh backing them up uh to the parents i'll urge them to support these kids talents because right now in kenya if you see a lot of people there uh they're depending on their talents like maybe you're working and then these uh you have your talent is your side hustle so for this parent to support their kids yeah okay um i'd like joy get the microphone please um what message would you like to pass to parents who don't believe in talents talent is a gift that got granted to everybody we should we should not take we should not delay our our children everybody has a chance and we have to encourage our parents that we take us for yeah okay okay uh so jamal besides these uh ladies holding these titles how do they now get to use them because i believe uh lorona is not is not just going to get them a sting charity international crown and just put on the crown what does she get to do now for the society because i believe you're also training these people to come and now use their titles to come and use their talents to help others in the society you know once you have the crown and you have the sach you become an ambassador of that crown so you stand out uh to actually talk to the youth and give them whatever that you have that is very positive okay and then with them focusing on their their projects actually you yourself working like that even in state house they won't even allow you but if she comes in with a sach she's a royal and people just acknowledge her in the midst of the crowd now the the sach itself and the uh and the crown it makes them stand out you see and it gives them that platform they can knock any doom and they'll be accepted okay uh it was really nice having you uh young ladies in studio tonight and my hope for them is that they go and pass all that to other young ladies and young boys back at home make sure that that crown your time or your time does not just end with you just putting the crown and having to shine do something for the for the society and i would like to say to jamal and fey thank you very much for really guiding them if every person in this country i believe would have a mentor or would have someone to guide them it's easier to navigate than when you just have to do it over yourself and to parents and young people watching us tonight you've had talent it's something that can also pay way for your studio for your children these are people who have not only visited africa but they've gone way beyond africa so it opens doors for your for your children so let us not feel like investing their talents is taking away maybe their education and all that let us fight ways as parents as siblings to be very supportive of every talent that our children have thank you very much for having uh for joining us tonight on why to fight for news my name is patricia moriuki do of yourselves a very good night