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Sandra Omo is irritated by the general assumption that models are stupid

Earlier this week, I went for a coffee with a new friend of mine from Thailand who was just visiting home again. Halfway through the coffee we got talking about careers. Well, I know what he does and that he lives in Thailand, but he knew absolutely nothing about me, as we never had time to chat, hence the coffee.

“He finds it difficult to believe that I am a model. ‘How come you are so intelligent,’ he asked?”

At the end of my introduction when I mentioned I am a model, I could see the surprise on his face but he waited until I finished before he lashed out. He finds it difficult to believe that I am a model. “How come you are so intelligent,” he asked? He thinks models are non-intelligent people who just sit around and sniff on their nail polish and get paid for doing that. He even justifies his thinking by saying he knows so many models and they all fall into this category and so he is surprised to find out that I am a model after all the intelligent discussions we have had. Can models talk this way? He is amazed.

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Sandra Omo is happy to change her portfolio, but definitely not every week

The need for me to update my portfolio has been screaming at me since I returned. I have had urges to update my portfolio before but it has never presented itself so strongly. Everywhere I go, it’s the first thing I notice. Even my booker has scolded me, saying that if I do not have new photos done in a week he will dump me – sounds like a joke, but he is serious. My friends are flaunting their new books in my face. As if this is not enough, I flip through my portfolio and I think that none of the images represent or even resemble me, and even my column is in dire need of new photos. This has had me wondering what has changed; is it me, my hairstyle, the photos – certainly not. Perhaps it is status: does this show through in photos? I am dying to know.

“The thought of having a photoshoot weekly – does it not drive some people mad?”

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Sandra Omo knows only too well that packing a suitcase is a trying task

There is something associated with modelling that I do not like. I know this is difficult to believe, as I myself can hardly bear to think that there is a part of this, my lovely career, that I don’t enjoy. Well there is, and it is the packing and unpacking of suitcases when travelling.

I am not a supermodel, yet, but at this stage of my career, I can’t count how many journeys – as in suitcases I have packed and unpacked – I have gone on. If it’s not for a casting or a job, then it is for networking.

Networking? Oh yes! If you want to be out there you need to meet people in the industry, or you might as well become a ‘modelling granny’. As I struggle with my suitcase right now, the frustration is unbearable. You have no idea how miserable I am at packing.

“As I struggle with my suitcase right now, the frustration is unbearable. You have no idea how miserable I am at packing”

I have been packing my suitcase since yesterday, and each time I look at it my head aches because I see the heap of mess in my suitcase and it will never close. Read the rest of this article »

Sandra Omo recounts the experience of winning a major contest

The joy of winning – whatever it may be – is unexplainable to someone who has never experienced it. If you have ever won anything, even as little as a penny, then you have an idea of what I am talking about right here. It is not the prize that brings the joy, although this does play a huge role, especially when there are opportunities in it as in my case right now. Rather, it is the fact that you have emerged the best in whatever it is you competed for. Is this not what life is all about: trying to be the best at work, school or home?

“I remember a few drops of tears flowing down my cheeks as I returned backstage”

After winning this competition, I reckon it is easier to be excited for a win you did not expect than for one you have always hoped for. It is not that I wasn’t happy when I was announced the Nigerian Model of the Year, it was rather a feeling of calm and ‘so I finally won’. Read the rest of this article »