NOIR WOMEN SERIES: Aminata. Beauty, Bones & Brain.
I met Aminata in Dakar over a year ago. I was looking for a dark skin beauty to shoot my ‘Femme’ story, and when a friend suggested her, just few looks on her portfolio were enough to convince me she was perfect to embrace the character.
Aminata exudes grace, class, and a serenity that shows she’s more than just a beautiful girl. And beautiful, she is. Inside and out.
Born and raised in Dakar, Aminata is the only girl amongst 4, this coming with a very sporty childhood split between soccer-plays, petanque, and tennis, which drive her in 2000, to join a volley-ball team, later evolving and ranking national (which can somehow explain her super athletic shape !).
After graduating from high school, Aminata drops out of college after few months of studying the Law, to figure out what she really wants to do with her life.
A year later, she joins the IAM Business School and graduates with a Master in Banking and financial engineering. Smart Bee.
The modeling happened when a friend of her brother insisted for her to apply to the Elite Model Look coming for the first time in Dakar, in 2010.
Surprised (as she never thought for a minute she could win the competition!!) , Aminata is sent to Beijing, China to represent Senegal during the great world finale. And this is when her modeling career took off.
« It wasn’t planned, and I would have never imagined doing all this one day, but I am truly happy my friend pushed me. Modeling is a way for me to dream, and get away. It’s another world (…) and when I walk or I am in front of the camera, I somehow become an entire other person, I can’t really describe the feeling. »
Over a year ago, Aminata landed the billboard cover of Dakar Fashion Week and won the very first edition of La Nouvelle Top, a Western African top model competition series.
Dreaming of an international career, she confesses knowing that being an African model is not as easy as people think, even as she used to think : « It requires to be mentally strong, very patient, some self-abnegation, and learning how to take in. And if I had an advice to give to my fellow young Senegalese sisters aspiring to do so, it would be to secure their professional life by studying and getting diplomas. The field doesn’t matter but a knowledge is something really important to have. It is also important to know and stay true to yourself not to get lost in all the frenzy, because it can get to your head very easily. And last but not least, I beg my sisters to keep it natural and take care of their skin - as it is. No need to alterate anything. Black is so beautiful.»
Aminata, Photographed by me in Dakar, November 2014.
Jonathan Anderson - Designer, Creative Director of JW Anderson & Christian Dior (9 Viewers)