By Christy Anyanwu
Doyin Haastrup-Olatokunbo had been a seasoned model in Nigeria before she emerged one of the winners of Face of Africa and relocated to South Africa. For 10 years, she was with ICE modeling agency in South Africa and has modeled in London, China, Zambia, Zimbabwe, America and Mauritius before she finally came back to Nigeria. The mother of three boys in this interview with Sunday Sun reflected on life as a model and other things. In the course of the interview, her husband chipped in a few words too.
Excerpts:
What’s the biggest challenge of being a model?
The only difficult time was when I was asked to do a shoot with swimwear by the beach in South Africa during winter.
Also, during Face of Africa when we went to Zambia for boot camp, we were required to either pose with a snake or crocodile to qualify for the finals or probably do bungee jump. I opted for bungee jump because I don’t like animals.
My career was very easy for me probably, because of my height and good looks. Initially, when I wanted to start, my parents were not excited but I was determined to be a model.
They now gave me their “rules” and I tried my best to adhere to them. If I had any show, I told them this show would end at a particular time and once the show ended, I made sure I was home between 12am and am midnight unlike some models who find it difficult to go back to their parents and hang out at their friends’ or probably a man’s house. Even if I finished 2 am, I made sure I was back home. There has never been any difficult challenge for me.
What’s your perception of modeling in Nigeria?
Most advertising companies focus on musicians or actresses now. Most of these jobs in the past we get from advertising agencies including billboards and TV commercials. This is not so in other countries. What they do is that they throw an open casting for everybody in different fields and if you’re good, you get the job. All job opportunities for models are given to entertainers now.
I’m not beefing them in anyway but they should make it open for everybody. In South Africa today, most Nigerian models are doing well. They don’t need to meet the director of anything before they’re engaged. All the agencies send their models for casting and the best among them gets the job. In Nigeria, we have different agencies that offer nothing to these girls. GTB, Heineken, Africa Fashion Week Nigeria and FADAN organize the runway shows done in Nigeria.
In South Africa, every model is working; it’s an open casting. If this one is not good for the job, she’s good for another job but that is not the case in Nigeria. In Nigeria these days, all commercials are either performed by Whizkid, Davido or Tiwa Savage and all manufacturers of drinks use celebrities and nothing for models. They don’t care about models. In South Africa, most billboards feature models and not South African celebrities and if any, they are few.
You were on the runway recently at Ade Bakare fashion show. How do you cope with the home front?
Ask anybody in the industry about Doyin Haastrup, they know me as a strong woman. I’m very strong. I determine what I do. I love modeling, I love my body. I tell people that even if I clock 40 or 50, I still want to keep my physique.
I don’t want people to push me aside; that I’m old school. I’m not old school. People see me on the street and call me schoolgirl and I am happy with that. I want to look young for myself. People don’t believe me when I tell them I have three boys. I watch what I eat but the funniest thing is I don’t exercise.
I have three boys at home and the talking every time is too much. I separate fights from morning till night. I work at home, swim, mop and clean. My house is big.
I can wear anything but I cannot wear bikini on stage now; not even for photo shoot. I can wear something close to it but without exposing much of my body.
Any regrets being a model?
No regrets. So far, I have sponsored four models to South Africa courtesy of my husband. I got one traveling allowances and paid for her trip to SA. We gave her free Julian accommodation for three months.
Now, she’s with another agency in the US. Another is Bukola who secured three years work permit, flight and accommodation free and she’s now on ICE in Johannesburg.
There are also others like Hauwa and Funmbi that won last year. They all didn’t spend one kobo of their own to be in SA and they’re big ladies in SA now.
You see them in editorials, on runways and TV commercials. We are not getting a kobo from the agency but the only thing we are praying for are sponsors. When you give back to society you don’t expect a percentage from the agency or these models.
What are the worst misconceptions about models?
Her husband, Olatokunbo speaks:
What I would say to this was that before I got married, not even me, a lot of people around me thought models are into rubbish, they are this and they are that. I now got to mix with a lot of them, not only my wife; I mixed with a lot of them. That helped me then to know most of my wife’s friends. At the end of the day, I realized that not all of them are bad. There are some good ones and there are bad ones. People believe models are wayward, because bad ones among them misbehave and claim to be models.
At the end of the day, the same guy that sleeps with three friends who claim to be models now tells people the girls are useless. “Look at them, they are models but it’s not all of them”, he’ll say.
When I mixed with my wife’s friends, I did some investigation to know if they had anything negative to say about Doyin and they didn’t. I expected them to tell me Doyin slept with this person or she’s a flirt or dating two guys. I did so, because no man would marry a woman without asking questions. The bad ones are those giving the good ones bad names, because every girl you see on the street now as long as she’s slim and has that figure claims to be a model.
Ask her, which agency do you work for and they cannot even mention one agency. Some of them will tell you “I’m free, I don’t work for any agency, I can do this, and that”. Not every model is bad and that’s why I support her career.
For the Pearl Look Competition, I supported her financially and I keep trying my best to ensure everything is fine. If I don’t see any good thing about modeling, I don’t think I would spend money organizing the Pearl Look competition.
Could you tell us more about Pearl Look contest?
Olatokunbo speaks
Concerning the pearl look competition, I told my wife to give back to society and try doing this or that. Then I convinced her friends, Opeyemi and Warebi.
My wife said she was very busy taking care of our kids and I said I would talk to Opeyemi and Warebi. They have been so supportive till Warebi got married and Opeyemi left Nigeria.
This year will be the fifth edition for the runway and for the beauty pageant; this year will be the third edition. We have been doing fine, the only problem we have is dearth of sponsorship.
Everything you see at the Pearl Look event is ours. The cash is ours; nobody has donated yet.
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