If you needed any evidence that God is working…this is one!
Remember the Agege bread seller we told you about last week that photo bombed Tinie Tempah‘s shoot with TY Bello? She just snagged her own ThisDay Style cover! Just a week after her famous photobomb!
And she isn’t on the cover as a street hawker ooo, the 27 year old Olajumoke Orisaguna is serving all kinds of glam fierceness as she slays the cover of the weekly style magazine!
Read TY Bello’s story:
I’ve
asked my self over and again why all of this is happening . One thing
is clear .. This woman here is no charity case .. We met her in the
middle of her hustle … The woman works hard.. Seven days a week ..
With a family to support .. But with dignity ..who pays that much
attention to how she looks as she’s about to hawk bread … Arranging
the bread so delicately like it was work much more .. Making sure she
left the bakery while it was steamy and hot … Every body likes their
bread hot . .. All of this even when it’s clear that her profit in a day
is between N300-500 .
This
is the story of so many Nigerians .. The young house selling gala in
traffic… The woman braiding hair under the bridge .. Nigerians work
hard and we go it with style …
This
has taught us and I hope everyone reading to pay a little attention .,
to those clearly working hard around us .. You may have your own wahala
to deal with .. But nothing gives you a bigger break from your troubles
than just making life easier for someone else .. Give an orange seller a
N1000 note and she may be able to take the next day off to attend to
herself and her children .
Jumoke
is sorted … I personally believe so with all the doors opening up for
her but This story is more about the ‘jumokes’around you . Who put in
all the work but just need a little push .You may not be able to help
every one but as I learnt from someone I really respect … In your own
unique way …. Do for the ONE what you would have liked to do for ALL.
Jumoke
ooo.. Wants to be a hairstylists but secretly nurses a fantasy to act
in a Yoruba film one day .. I know she’ll be a nollywood hit .. She did
great in front of my camera and understood how to work the tiniest
emotional nuances .She may not speak much English but can read and write
in Yoruba…@kunleafo can you hear!!! So here she is our #olajumoke she can now be contacted and booked with @fewmodels . She’s an amazing model . Wishing her all the best #makeupby @bimpeonakoya #zubbydefinition by @zubbydefinition #beautiful #lifemakeover #devine
OLAJUMOKE ORISAGUNA : GRACE. (PART 2)’ Aso kan na ni mo wo kiri Lana ‘..
Jumoke the ‘model’ the Internet had been searching for speaks almost no
English. She explained how she had worn the exact outfit in our
photograph the day before and someone showed her her own photograph on
his phone from face book. A mallam led her to my studio that morning .
She narrated her journey to lagos …A hair stylist from Ire in Osun
state but not making enough profit between she and her husband , a
sliding door installer in from same village ,to care for their two young
children .
At the invitation of a distant relative who knew someone operating a
bakery , she relocated lagos with her 14 month old daughter to give
bread hawking a try , leaving her husband and older 5 year old behind .
As I listened to her I wandered if the beauty I had seen on my screen as
I edited my image was a fluke ..well until she smiled ., I realized
that I was wrong ., I had in fact ,underestimated the beauty of this 27
year old woman. As always ., it was her eyes and of course her perfectly
chiseled features that jumped out at you when she chuckled .This lady
belonged in front of my camera .After a conversation with her husband
telling him the story of our meeting I decided I was going to photograph
her that very afternoon..Within an hour ..Bimpe Onakoya , one of
Nigeria’s leading makeup artist and Zubby one of my favourite
hairstylist were at my studio to work magic. They had both followed the
story online and were more than happy to put in their very best for her.
Olajumoke .., with curly extensions out ,revealed a short natural Afro
that beautifully hugged her face.@Bimpeonakoya also had decided to keep
the make up minimal… She stepped in front of my camera and I almost
couldn’t recognize her . She moved different too.Jumoke looked straight
into my lens emoting like she had done this all her life …. I knew we
had found a star
OLAJUMOKE ORISGUNA : GRACE ( part 3) During the course of the day,
@emaedosio who was making a short documentary about the process had
asked her what she really wanted to do .
‘Ka ma kiri Buredi ko suwon ‘ she explained that bread hawking wasn’t
the most profitable business but put enough food on her table . It also
put a roof over a head .. Howbeit a roof she shared with scores of other
hawkers .
She was a trained hairdresser back in Osun state but her family could
not afford the necessarily ‘freedom ‘ ceremony ; a passing out ritual
that gives a trainee a sometimes unwritten permission to start a full
fledged salon .
We all decided that the make over would be incomplete if it ended at the
studio . Every one started to reach out to their contacts and through
Bimpe we were able to get her a meeting with Ugo the pioneer of Make-me
salon .
As a result of the buzz she generated from the Thisday cover Our model
is now close to starting an internship at @makemesalon and has been
offered a additional internship with @sarisignature a famous Lebanese
owned salon on the island island .
To pay Jumoke her model fee from her first job in front of the camera we
called @_ujumarshall one of Nigeria’s And matched her fees .She’s been
offered a modelling contract with the help of @godsonukaegbu from a
@fewmodels .She’s also had @payporte reach out to her to be model on
their next billboard campaign .
This is clearly only the beginning of another chapter in Jumoke’s story . Though it seems accidental it s clearly Devine .
Just this morning ,mentor of mine offered to foot the bill for her
accommodation ,education as well as her child’s .. This finally makes it
possible to be finally reunited with her husband and older child .
