So we’ll call our star woman for the week (maybe even for the year 2024)– ‘Jack of a few trades and master of them all’. Today the spotlight is on a model and business woman that lives in Moscow– you could even refer to her as a Moscow Big Girl (MBG).
Read about her life in Moscow and how she got into her travel and modelling business and get inspired for your endeavours! Let’s dive right in:
We could do this anonymously- so you give us details about everything, but then you don’t have to tell us your name.
Okay, that’s fine…
So how would you describe what you do?
So, I am a model. But I also do marketing for brands, mostly clothing/fashion brands. Sometimes, I also get projects as an influencer with restaurants to collaborate with them and like, just pin them up there with my stories on my Instagram. Besides that, I also do Safari trips to Africa.
You organize Safari trips?
Yes, and I would say that I prefer dealing with the VIP segment, because, of course, it is more profitable. And for every VIP client I get, I have the opportunity to travel as their personal assistant. I am hired as a PA on the trip, and I do the ground handling of everything that’s happening in a particular country. For example, my most recent trip was to Namibia. I came back two weeks ago, and I had a very big group of people that were there, and we saw most of the places some people get to see only on Instagram. It was an amazing experience.
That’s lovely.
Yes, it is. So I’ve also had people that consult me for general trips to African countries as well and because they are on a limited budget, I have to squeeze itineraries that align with their budget. That means I just try to make itineraries that make them happy but I wouldn’t be with them during the trip. I just make sure that whatever I have arranged for them is going to be good enough.
That’s interesting. First of all, let’s circle back to the fact that you do marketing for brands. So are these brands in Russia, the ones that advertise with you on your social media?
Yes, the brands are actually in Moscow. I’ve worked with a number of showrooms and brands in Moscow, like Two Mood Store, Zim Wear and a lot more.
Nice. So how did you get into your travel business?
I got into travel I think from passion, because I just used to love traveling. The whole idea of, you know, having to prepare trips before the sanctions in Russia. I always used to have countries on my bucket list and I always wanted to know what countries I’m going to go to again, in advance. I was so interested in planning the trips and I think that’s where the desire came from.
Imagine when you have particular things on your bucket list. For example, when I was in Italy, I was just ticking off all the places that I always wanted to see and I saw all of them. I was like, ‘Wow, this is magical!’ It’s a feeling you cannot even express with your words.
So from there onwards, I began getting involved in the tourism business. It is really more of a family business. And when I began traveling, of course, I was proposed to take this passion to Africa. I mean if you have the passion to organize and do everything, why don’t you divert your destinations to Africa.
So I did the same, and in the beginning, I had to experience it myself, because many of us live on our beautiful continent, but we’ve never been on the Safari. So my first Safari experience was in Tanzania, and the expectations I had were Lion King expectations. I wanted to see all the animals that I saw in Lion King. I was super excited thinking this is just going to be the best trip ever.
You know when you see lions just in front of you, sitting together, and then you’re looking at the pumbas running in a funny way while wagging their tails. The whole nature experience, the bush, breakfast, the Savannah. It is a different aesthetic that I think you don’t get to see everywhere.
The first trip really sold my soul to the Safari. I made up my mind that I would love to do this. Africa is really beautiful and it needs to be marketed as well. It needs to be a destination that should be open to other markets. Of course, since I’m living in Russia, the target market for now is the Russian market. I have plans for next year to begin the expansion to other markets.
Well, so when you said it’s a family business, what did you mean by that?
My mom is the director of the company. So she opened the company here when she was living here.
She lived here?
Yes, she lived here and she opened the business like the business has been existing for about 28 years.
Oh wow!
Of course, everything has changed. The destination, which is Africa, is not what it used to be in the 90s. It has really changed. Right now, many people are looking for luxury but they also want to have an adventure- something really outstanding that does not remind them of the city. But at the same time, they don’t want to compromise on comfort. So there are now luxury camps, resorts, hotels that have opened in Africa now, and if people have the money to access that, why not serve it?
My bad! I forgot to ask in the beginning. Where are you from?
Very good question. I’m actually Russian, Black Russian. I was born here but I’m really from Rwanda. Rwanda and Uganda. Maybe I even consider myself to be more Ugandan because I lived and I spent more years there.
I spent nearly all my life in Uganda. After my birth here in Russia, that is where I went to school. Everything and everyone is there. My friends are in Uganda. And like Rwanda, connects me with, of course, my mom. That’s where she’s from, but she was also born in Uganda.
But your dad is Russian?
No, he’s actually West African.
Interesting. So that means you’d consider yourself Russian also, because you’ve spent so much time here.
Yes, yes.
You moved to Russia in 2015 so mostly you just do business and modelling in Moscow,
Yeah. When I moved here, it was for university. When I came, I thought I would just do my MBA and return. I was not planning to stay here for long. Because after arriving here in September 2015, I was already late for admissions and everything here is so different from what I was used to. The whole process was really long, so I decided to do a Bachelor’s instead.
In that case, I decided I was going to relearn the language, choose a university and do everything to be able to join university the next year (2016). So I learnt Russian because I’d already forgotten it and I wasn’t speaking it. Then I went for entry exams to МГУ (Moscow State University Lomonosov). In my first year, when I was admitted, I went for Chinese Philology.
Wow!
Then I decided to change my course to International Relations. When I finished my International Relations course in 2020, we did not have graduation, because it was the COVID time. After that, I immediately sat for Master’s exams because I thought it would be better if I just closed the studies chapter at once.
I went for journalism for my masters where I worked a little with ‘Russia Today’. The way best I can explain that experience was that my expectations were different from reality in the newsroom. I also didn’t want to work as an editor because it was just not the kind of work I like. If I was to really work in that sphere, I think I would just be doing my own programs on my own terms.
So how did you move from there?
So that is how I slowly just began getting into the modeling industry. I got into modeling so fast because I could not, like most students that are here, study and work intensely at the same time. This was the best option for me, because it does not require so much time. It’s easy to plan the time your shoots if you have other things to do like school.
And when I began as a model, I did not even know what modeling agency to go to. I had no advice from the right people. I just knew that I wanted to make money. So I began trying to build my portfolio, because earlier I was not even running Instagram in any way. I would just post just a few photos once in a while. And this time I knew I really had to put myself out there.
I decided to contact and collaborate with the best photographers in Moscow from what I had seen on Instagram. I eventually got my first commercial gig just by recommendation. Someone just saw that I had begun posting something. And since then, I have been getting recommendations just from people.
To be continued next week…
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