Olajumoke: From Grass to Grace ...finding a diamond in the rough

Olajumoke’s Cinderella Moment!
From Selling Bread on the Streets to the cover of ThisDay Style

Jumoke and daughter on Thisday cover

 "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." 

Jumoke and daughter on Thisday cover

 

The picture that kicked this off

  

Photo bombing yielded good fruits this time around.

This is an amazing and inspiring story of Olajumoke the bread seller  

...I guess you will be amazed too. The amazing power of GRACE. Olajumoke Orisaguna stumbled on a photo-shoot set of famed photographer, TY Bello and rap star, Tinie Tempah. The rest they say is history! 

She now has a modeling contract, will now do her internship with two of themost prestigious hairstylists in Lagos and is set for a billboard campaign, her accommodation, education as well as her kids to be taken care of and so much more...

The story begins here...
About two weeks ago,TY Bello was shooting Tinie somewhere on the streets of Yaba, Lagos, when Jumoke, a 27-year old mother of two, accidentally walked into the shot. Bello was going through her shots later and noticed Jumoke in her shots. She looked so gracious like a model. In fact, people had no idea she wasn't a professional model paid to pose the part.

Fast forward to a few days later, TY Bello, sent her team to ask around that area for Jumoke. They found her and after a makeover, Jumoke is indeed on her way to stardom. Thisday style has her on the cover.

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 a photograph of herself  on his phone from face book. A mallam led her to my studio that morning 

 Here is her odessy to Lagos which she narrated to TY Bello.

 ... A hair stylist from Ire in Osun state but not making enough profit between herself 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 the 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 favorite hairstylists were there at my studio to work their magic. They had both followed the story on line 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 didn'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 necessary 'freedom' ceremony; a passing out ceremony that gives a trainee what sometimes amounts to an unwritten permission to start a full fledged business (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 modeling fee from her first job in front of the camera we called @_ujumarshall one of Nigeria's top agents 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 model on their next billboard campaign.

 

"This is clearly only the beginning of another chapter in Jumoke's story. Though it seems accidental it is clearly Divine."

Just this morning, a 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

Jumoke and TY Bellow (photographer who started it all)

 Ps 119 v 133  'Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.'

credit: TyBello