AJUMA NASENYANA: GRACE AND HUMILITYY

I got to see Ajuma Nasemanya at work yesterday in a fashion show organized by Lyndsey McIntyre of Surazuri Modeling Agency that took place at the Ngong Racecourse, Nairobi. As she walked on the runway I saw grace and humility, I was inspired. For those who do not know her, here's something about her.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Ajuma as a child

Ajuma’s mother, Maria, was the first woman of her generation in the Turkana area to receive an education and she went on to open and run the Women’s Centre in Lodwar. Her grandfather is an ex-administration policeman who keeps two homes – a small house in Lodwar and a Turkana traditional homestead some 15 minutes’ drive from the town. He has three wives and 25 children and many dozens of grandchildren, including Ajuma. Ajuma was educated at Greensteads and Greenacres, two excellent boarding schools outside Nairobi, which follow the British system. Her education was sponsored together with other young girls from Lodwar by the Womens Centre. After school she went into training for 400 meter and 800 meter track running and in 2002 she won the World Junior Championship National Trials and was third in the World Championship National trials. Her best times are 400 mt – 54 seconds, 800 mt – 2.07 seconds.

NANCY ‘AJUMA’ NASENYANA

Ajuma on the runway

Born in Lodwar, Turkana District on August 16 1984, Ajuma was an athlete training with Paul Erang when she made her first foray into modeling, participating in the Miss Tourism Kenya competition in 2003. Having won the 400 and 800 mt track events in the Kenya Junior Championships in 2002 she was now the crowd favorite in a very different type of competition and won the ‘Miss Nairobi’ title.

On the threshold of pursuing an athletics career Lyndsey persuaded her to meet some journalists coming to Kenya to do a story on her search for a Supermodel, they were Gamma Photo Agency. They met at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as Ajuma was about to board a plane to Sweden. The journalists persuaded her to unload her bags and accompany them to Turkana with Lyndsey for a photo spread for French Magazine Gala. The photographs taken were to provide the basis for Ajuma’s fabulous portfolio. They were so taken with Nasenyana that she became the main feature of the story, which later ran in France's Gala magazine. The pictures taken anchored Nasenyana's portfolio, presented to international agency Ford Models, who entered her in Ford's Supermodel of the World competition.

Surazuri then sponsored the 19 year old to enter the Ford Models Supermodel of the World Search 2003 to represent Kenya. This is the world’s premier modeling competition with over 50 contestants taking part in a high profile show in New York. Ajuma did her country proud by being the first black model ever to win a ($50,000) contract in an international competition that was not aimed solely at promoting black models. In November 2003, she traveled to Europe to build her portfolio prior to the supermodel finals in New York City. She soon signed with agencies in London, Italy, Australia, Spain, Ireland, Canada and Sweden.

Nasenyana participated in the New York Fashion Week (one of the big four fashion weeks in the world) alongside Naomi Campbell and Alek Wekl (Sudanese born supermodel and designer) for designers such as Baby Phat and Carlos Mieness before traveling to Millan to model for fashion houses such as Ungaro during the Italian Fashion Week. Paris was the final destination during the winter show season and Vivienne Westwood made her the lead model in her show.

Ajuma, HOT SECRET campaign.

Since then, she has shot several magazine editorials, a video for Lacoste, and a catalogue for Issey Miyake. In 2011, she was also named AFI African Fashion International's, Africa Fashion Week Model of the Year 2012. Besides modeling, Nasenyana has decried the apparent trend in her native Kenya toward rejection of the indigenous Black African physical standards of beauty in favour of those of other communities. In an interview with the Kenyan broadsheet the Daily Nation, she stated that "it seems that the world is conspiring in preaching that there is something wrong with Kenyan ladies' kinky hair and dark skin[...] Their leaflets are all about skin lightening, and they seem to be doing good business in Kenya. It just shocks me. It's not OK for a Caucasian to tell us to lighten our skin [...] I have never attempted to change my skin. I am natural. People in Europe and America love my dark skin. But here in Kenya, in my home country, some consider it not attractive."

With child and husband

In 2004 Ajuma won a 6000 Euro prize for being voted Best Model of Spanish Fashion Week. In August 2005 she was voted amongst the world’s 10 most beautiful women by US magazine ‘Complex’. She has starred in an art house movie that won an award at the New York Film Festival. In 2006, she flew with the Victoria’s Secret angels including Gisele Bundchen to participate in a fashion show in LA for which she was paid a staggering $10,000. In 2007 she was flown to South Africa to take part in the huge Positive Rocks concert and show in Sun City where she and Aluchi were the celebrity models for the event. It was a tough decision to quit athletics but she is not one for regrets. She has adapted easily to the traveling although she admits it can get lonely. However, her beautiful smile and genuine charm make her new friends wherever she goes - carrying the Kenyan flag with pride and grace. Ajuma is now based in New York and is still represented there by Ford Models. She has shot campaigns for Motorola, Speedo, Vivianne Westwood and Target amongst many others. She is also featured on Ones2Watch, a website featuring profiles of the world’s most promising models.

Ajuma is highly intelligent, charming and ambitious and it is these qualities that make her such a successful model as well as her slim toned body and fantastic bone structure.