Linda Ikeji:The Highest Paid Model In Nigeria.

Linda Ikeji: The Highest Paid Model in Nigeria
Linda Michael Ikeji is the highest paid model in Nigeria. She is exciting and thrilling in her mesmerizing catwalk on the runway since she began modeling in 1998 at 17 and has been an instant success all the way. She is only 5’8 tall, but she has the perfect physique for the catwalk with her slim and trim figure and chocolate complexion. Her sexy figure is her best asset in modeling. She is also very disciplined and humble. She is also known to be gracious and generous since her days as a student of English at the University of Lagos in Nigeria. She graduated and chose to set up her own enterprise instead of looking for employment like millions of other graduates in Nigeria who are still applicants. She believes in her talents and good education.

Linda is the pride of her parents, five sisters and one brother. And she has successfully organized over two major events since she launched her Black Dove Modeling and Events Management company on the mainland of Lagos in Nigeria.

She has written a book on fashion, beauty and modeling in Nigeria.

“But, I am producing my fashion and beauty magazine first before the book. It is called the Fashion, Modeling and Beauty Magazine (FM&B) and will be launched before the Christmas,” Linda said in her modest office in Lagos on Monday September 26, 2005.

What is African Beauty?

WHAT IS AFRICAN BEAUTY?

Defining African beauty
We talk a lot about "African beauty", but what does that term signify? Dark skin, short virgin hair, big flat nose, big lips, full figure, big hips and backside – is this the true version of an African beauty? If you straighten your hair, put on hair extensions, are embarrassed by your flat nose, big lips and big butt – does that mean you're not proud of your African beauty?

Is it true that in this day and age we all subscribe to the popular concept of beauty that condemns plump, dark-skinned women? The recent Nokia Face of Africa pageant raised these important questions about African beauty. Face of Africa judge and TRUE LOVE editor Busi Mahlaba had this to say: "There's no beauty like African beauty - our skin tones, our figures and our shapes are distinct and unique in all of the world!" Busi believes African beauty is about the pride and dignity with which we wear our African identity on a daily basis by celebrating our shape, enhancing those features unique to us (such as our small waists and wider hips). She adds: "African beauty is reflecting who you are outwardly; it's embracing our cultures and traditions, and honouring them." She also maintains it's about being able to straddle the dual roles we women in Africa face today, expressing our traditional values and heritage while living and working in a totally Western world. One way of doing this is by introducing elements of our culture into the way we dress (such as combining a suit with a headgear of African beads).

Happy in our own skin? An article which appeared on June 29 this year in the Mail & Guardian by Cheri-Ann Janes and Malena Ammusa, entitled "Happy In Our Own Skin", claims that according to some men, every guy's dream of beauty is the "it" girl who's thin and fair-skinned. However, I'm sure we've all noticed the growing South African phenomenon of women liberating themselves from this conventional stereotype of beauty by being comfortable in their own skins. Gone are the days when African women were frowned upon because of their black skin, broad noses, curly hair, thick lips and big butts – now women with thin lips and no butts have resorted to plastic surgery to achieve these features! Beauty guru Leigh Tosselli has also gone on record as saying South Africans have come a long way in accepting and embracing African beauty. "We're starting to see a strong sense of ethnic identity – even South African models are starting to realise that they don't have to have hair extensions and blue contact lenses to be beautiful." Now, more than ever, what it means to be African and beautiful no longer depends on how well African women mimic Western aesthetic ideals. Popular Afro-centric hairstyles and fashion speak for themselves. We've become so comfortable with our natural attributes that our white sisters envy us for our beautiful, glowing, clear, wrinkle-free skins, our sparkling white teeth, our strong facial features and our inherently dignified postures!

SURVIVAL OF THE BEAUTIFUL

THE AFRICAN BEAUTY BOOK OF THE MONTH.
Is the classic novel "Survival of the Beautiful" by the prolific Nigerian novelist Bisi Ojediran.

Our models are always encouraged to read at least one book a month and at the end of the year we are going to give out prizes to the models who have read up to 12 books in our BOOK OF THE MONTH Selection. Just like the Oprah Book Club.
The African Beauty Book Club will promote the revival of our reading culture.
Because, we believe in Beauty and Savvy.

We hereby recommend "Survival of the Beautiful" to all our models and all our subscribers and visitors.
Now Released: Survival of the Beautiful

Abel falls in love with Kiki, the shabbily dressed lady who turns out a different sort of prostitute, and in return for his kindness, Kiki hands him a 'mystery’ note, which reads: "In the throes of death, a snake bite, bearer's origin, survival of the beautiful, an unknown culture, yet in this same country". The note fires Abel's journalistic curiosity, and his decision to investigate it, brings him in a headlong clash with Price in the 'village of beauty’ and in Lagos. It is an assignment fraught with danger and near-death situations to expose Professor Price and liberate the people.

Reviewed by This Day Newspaper, Lagos Monday, August 29, 2005.

BOOKSPLUS Nigeria Ltd has repackaged Bisi Ojediran's classic novel, Survival of the Beautiful. The novel, described by the author as his most original creative project, was first published in 1999. Peter Abel, journalist and protagonist in many of Ojediran's literary works made his first explosive appearance in Nigerian and global literary space in this composition.

Following its strong impact and its great potentials, the original 30,000-word novel has been rewritten completely and expanded for the international market with a beautiful cover that has Grace Amah of Nollywood fame as its model. Currently under a publishing deal with agents in the United States, the author said he has agreed with the agents for the release of a limited number in Nigeria, because in his words, "Maintaining relevance in Nigeria where I live, work, and write, is very important."

He also promises to be active on the local literary scene on retirement. He is sure the novel, which has been listed on the agent's website, will be published in the United States very soon.

In the classic novel, a Biology Professor is driven by beauty into a morbid experiment of breeding beautiful women in a remote, uncivilized village. The Professor, lost his beautiful wife in an automobile accident, but had exhumed her head to kiss every morning in a bizarre show of love and a tonic for his experiment. In the city of Lagos, Peter Abel, an ace investigative reporter who has the uncanny gift for writing delightful scoops, and celebrates each with a drinking binge, runs into an escapee from Price's village of beauty, Kiki, in a brothel.

Abel falls in love with Kiki, the shabbily dressed lady who turns out a different sort of prostitute, and in return for his kindness, Kiki hands him a 'mystery' note, which reads: "In the throes of death, a snake bite, bearer's origin, survival of the beautiful, an unknown culture, yet in this same country". The note fires Abel's journalistic curiosity, and his decision to investigate it, brings him in a headlong clash with Price in the 'village of beauty' and in Lagos.

The difficult trip and his sojourn in the remote village enables Abel to crack the mystery of Professor Price's experiment, but it is fraught with danger and near-death situations. Abel escapes to the city on a helicopter that takes Price to the village to transport some more beautiful girls to the city. Back in the city, the newspaper story of a heavily bruised Abel draws the attention of the government and Non-Governmental Organizations to begin a massive rehabilitation programme for the people. But he discovers after a long search that Kiki, who had waited endlessly for him, has returned to the village to look for him, triggering another search, this time for a dear one. The desperate search ends with the finding of a Kiki who has been charmed by the villagers into a vegetable, but Abel needed exactly the woman who made it possible for him to love women - nothing less.