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Sandra Omo continues her spotlight on the courage and career of Thema Davis

After the touching and shocking tale of model Thema Davis last week, the question is: how is Thema now? Well, she’s back on her feet – as her picture clearly shows – with numerous jobs and magazine interviews and a feature in almost every major magazine. I caught up with her and in a candid interview she tells it plainly, but with emotion that sends the message straight to the heart. To read Thema’s full story, please go to www.themadavis.co.uk.

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Sandra Omo wants to make it very clear how to avoid getting ripped off

The ability to be able to tell a genuine agency from a fraudulent one is a must-have for every model who does not want to be scammed. Models are talking about this, and agencies are warning their models to beware of such scams, but how many people can actually tell or smell a scam before they fall prey to it? Very few. So how then can a model sense whether she is just about to be scammed, or signed by a genuine agency?

“Just as Rome was not built in a day, so a model’s book cannot be built in one“

Firstly, there’s no guarantee in the modelling industry and no agency has the power to guarantee you a job because they do not create or give the jobs. They put you out there for the designers, producers, companies, etc to select who they want – it’s not the agencies that decide. In fact, they have no say over who is chosen.

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Sandra Omo looks back on a year in modelling with no regrets, no surrender

A good friend of mine surprised me this week by announcing she was giving up the modelling business for good. Boy, the news came as a big shock to me. I mean we had just finished an LFW show and having a celebration back stage when she popped in the news. Even as I write, I am still trying to come to terms with it.

Why is she giving up something as wonderful as modelling when there are thousands of people out there dying to become one? Well her reasons are that it has not been an easy ride for her (my dear friend, which profession is?), she has not achieved the things she expected she would have by now as a model (isn’t that why you should keep trying?), and she wants a family and modelling has not given her time for that. This last excuse I buy. After all, it’s responsible for us giving up a lot of things.

However, when I talked to her later that day, she candidly explained to me that she fears she would not make it as a successful model so it’s better to pursue something else now before it’s too late. I see. Her fears have had me thinking about things I have taken for granted. I mean, these are things that I have completely forgotten, or have not crossed my mind for long.

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Sandra Omo is concerned about models’ photos being used without them knowing

I am beginning to wonder the possibility of a model fronting the cover of a magazine without even knowing it. For sure if it’s a well known magazine, there is no way the model wouldn’t know, and the magazine itself wouldn’t make such a blunder knowing how much it will cost them if the model in question sues.

Now that brings me to the question of small magazines in other parts of the world, that the model or anyone that knows them will never get to see – is it possible? The answer is a big ‘yes’.

“There my photo was, fully blown up for the mag’s special fashion week introductory edition”

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