These aspirations almost got shattered, as she got bullied in High School for being “too dark” and “ugly.” The incessant negative comments really affected her self-esteem for a while, causing her to want to dump her dreams.

But she persevered, and today, she is a succesful model. Nyakim, now 24 years old, recently spoke with Cosmopolitan about her journey to success. Here are excerpts from the interview:

What was your vision of America like when you arrived at age 14?

Oh, it was going to be like heaven. Living in a refugee camp [in Africa meant] sleeping in tents, not knowing where your dinner is coming from, not drinking clean water. America is education, food, hospitals, not feeling like your child will pass away because there’s no medical care. [But] you come here and realize you have to work hard for everything. Yeah, it’s not as heavenly as it seems, as it was made out to be back home. But at the end of the day, America is a really great country if you make it.

You haven’t always received positive reactions to your skin tone. You mentioned you were bullied by classmates when you moved to Buffalo, New York.

They would say, you know, I’m too black, my skin is too dark. They’d be like, “You don’t take showers. That’s why your skin is dirt.” Or, “Smile so we can see you, Nyakim. We can’t see you.” And then, in class, for example, the teacher would ask a question and say, “Oh, Nyakim, can you answer that?” A kid would say, “Who are you talking to? We can’t see her. She’s not here.” The whole class would start laughing, and I would just cry. The kid who would say that would go to the principal, or [he] would get in trouble. But the whole class was feeling what this kid was saying.

What were you thinking at the time?

I just kept to myself. I was like, “These people don’t accept me.” I was already having trouble with the language barrier and learning English to communicate with my teachers. I had always wanted to be a model, but after that I thought, “These kids think I’m ugly. I don’t see myself on social media, or TV, or in the magazines. I don’t think I’m meant to be a model.” I pushed that thought out of my head.

Did you ever consider bleaching your skin in the past?

At one point, I did consider it. When I came to America from a refugee camp in Africa [at age 14], I lived in Buffalo, New York. I would cry myself to sleep after being bullied [about my skin]. There are so many beautiful dark-skinned Sudanese women who bleach their skin. My own sister did it. But when I told her I wanted to [after living in America for a few months], she told me no. She said, “You would not just be bleaching your skin, you would be bleaching your mind. I did it and I regret it. I’m not going to let my daughter do it, or you — nobody.”

Did the bullying continue when you moved to Minnesota later that year?

I’d walk into the grocery store, and people would stare at me. I could hear people saying under their breath, “Oh my God, she’s so black. Is that even normal?” [To meet friends,] I tried joining sports — track and field. [My teammates would] say, “Are we going to be able to even see her when it’s her turn to pass the relay stick?” I quit track. I just kept to myself.

How do you react to online haters?

The negative reactions or comments don’t affect me as much now — some of them I laugh at. But there are some that go deep and bring me down for a little bit. Some people say I get followers because people feel bad for me, not because I’m actually beautiful. They say I’m the dumbest person ever. But there are millions more people who think I’m beautiful and give me positive feedback.

By sharing her experiences about people’s reactions to her dark skin, Nyakim, who is a part-time school teacher and part-time model, has amassed a huge following on Instagram.  She has more than 300,000 followers, and and has booked professional gigs ranging from local magazine covers to national campaigns for brands like Aldo. 

Read the entire interview here.

Photo Credit: Cosmopolitan/Ruben Chamorro

One of such women is popular makeup artist, Teniola Aisha Kashaam, known popularly as Tenny Coco. 

In a recent Instagram post, she revealed how her obsession with skin lightening began at the age of 19, and how finally at the age of 25, while reflecting on her life during her birthday period, she had an epiphany, and resolved to stop lightening her skin.

She said:

“My Road to Melanin:At the age of 19, I started lightening my skin….. By the time I was 20, I had become a heavy Skin bleacher… at the time it felt almost normal, I felt like I looked more attractive….. it became an addiction, I just couldn’t stop. I craved so much to be lighter.. I felt being black wasn’t beautiful enough. What a stupid way to have thought… I guess the society we live in played a little role in my decision to bleach my skin… coupled with being very Naive at that age. It’s widely perceived that the lighter you are, the more beautiful you look. To be honest I always knew it was a bad thing… I mean, I had seen loads of people with ridiculously damaged skin courtesy the effects of bleaching but I was just so deep into it… like I said it’s actually an addiction. 

As my 25th birthday started approaching I started to do a lot of Soul searching, a lot of self evaluation… concerning every area of my life and I finally started to see the light… to see how crazy I had been all these years… how crazy it was for me to have believed that my black skin wasn’t beautiful, to have allowed myself to feel inadequate or to try and tell God ‘ how you created me isn’t good enough’ what a silly, crazy way to have lived. Today I’m more than grateful that I finally saw the light. Black is beautiful! So beautiful! Never have I ever felt as beautiful and as at peace with my skin tone as I do now… Please Love your skin/Yourself the way God has made you…. you are beautiful, you are enough.

Time will always tell… imagine how I would look 10-15 years from now if I had continued to bleach my skin. Please don’t do it… I did it and I Had/ have so much Regret… it’s not worth it. You are beautiful just as you are.  I get a lot of messages asking me, how I was able to transition my skin back… I will be sharing all the tips soon enough.  Thank you to everyone who helped me get through this…… the Amount of support.” 

We are definitely loving the glow up! We appreciate the fact that she has been so open about her journey, and we’re sure lots of women who lighten their skin will be inspired by her story.

Embrace your skin tone ladies, whatever complexion you may be. Xx

Photo Credit: Tenny Coco

Ghanaian international model, Dora Owusu, recently took to her Instagram page, to share how a boyfriend she had during her pre-teen years, dumped her because she was “too dark.”

She shared this photo and story below:

“So I had a “boyfriend” when I took the photo on the left. We were connected through mutual friends but hadn’t met in person before. He had two photos of me, this one and another one similar to it. When we finally met in person… he broke up with me the next day. My friend had him on speaker phone asking why he broke up with me and he said “It’s because she’s TOO DARK, I don’t want a girl that dark”. You could imagine how that made 12 year old me feel. Although I had good friends around me to cheer me up I couldn’t help but still feel terrible. I wish I could tell the beautiful unconfident 12 year old me that in 10 years I would be a model working with @covergirl & @anastasiabeverlyhillsand that those feelings are only temporary. I can’t believe I felt so terrible about my looks and now I get PAID FOR THEM?! Look at God! He definitely ALWAYS has a plan. •
•The boy messaged me a few years ago (post-glowup) but ”

With over 44,000 followers on Instagram, this model & fashion/beauty influencer, has been featured in campaigns for Covergirl, Sephora, Artist Couture, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Sophia Vegara, EBY , Cosmopolitan Magazine as well as others. She most recently starred in Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s  music video, All The Stars.

Dora’s deep chocolate complexion is highly sought after by photographers, brands and agencies – and she was recently signed to BMG Models. At the youthful age of 21, Dora’s career shows no signs of slowing down. While some may think modeling is just about being a pretty face, for Dora, being in front of the camera is a platform for a bigger purpose – showing girls who look like her that there is no limit to who they can become.

Photo Credit: Instagram

Nigerian photographer, Emmanuel Arewa, of Spotlight Photography, has a wide portfolio that includes some stunning headshots and portraits of African women. We’ve selected some of our favourites.

Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Spotlight Photography