Source: (Photo by Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images) / (Photo by Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images)
Last name: Arielle Van Mballa
IG: @aririhz
Agency: Managing Fenton models
Claiming fame: Van-Mballa has been featured in Vogue Mexico and Paper Magazine. She also starred in a campaign for Cover FX and walked the runway for The Blonds and for fashion house ESSENCE.
Arielle Van-Mballa’s mom was walking around in an Ulta when she spotted a familiar face beaming on the Cover FX panels – her daughters.
The moment was the result of hard work and a willingness by Van-Mballa to humble himself.
“I’m from Houston, I went to school at Baylor in Waco, Texas. So I moved to DC right after graduation. And then after that, I worked in a law firm, ”she said. Hello beauty.
“I was unhappy,” she added of her time at the cabinet. “I was modeling next door. I actually signed a contract with a smaller MA-, Home Agent in Washington, but after a while I started to realize that they were not doing enough for me.
She was working at a Washington DC law firm when she chose to turn to the modeling industry in New York City. She convinced her parents to come on board with a formal pitch deck. The gesture was required coming from a culture which did not consider modeling as “a profitable profession”.
“We’re very, just like being an engineer, a lawyer, being a doctor,” she said. His choices reflected the kind of shift in perspective inspiring movements like The Great Resignation. “I feel like this generation is good at being like that, I’m just going to leave that alone and maybe then choose something that makes me happy. So I did that.
Source: (Photo by Thomas Concordia / WireImage) / (Photo by Thomas Concordia / WireImage)
She set her sights on New York, explaining to her family why the choice was right for her. “I gave her and my dad a five-year introduction. Like, that’s what I’m gonna do in five years. This is where I’m going.
She was not a novice. “I attended New York Fashion Week several times before signing a contract,” she said. “I have always loved fashion. Like I had always grown up looking like Dior, Prada and Gucci and wanting to be like one of those girls. “
She first got involved in fashion during her undergraduate studies. She worked at the “logistical” end of the fashion shows hosted by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. As she put her effort into every part of the show, her classmates brought up one aspect that she was skipping.
“My friends were like, ‘Why don’t you teach models? You do this, you do that. Why don’t you just start modeling? And I was like, ‘Oh, you’re actually right.’ So I ended up doing some freelance stuff.
Today, she is “in store” and “advertises” for other brands, including Naturopathica skincare, one of her favorite brands.
“I do things I never imagined in Houston. And now that I’m doing this in New York, it’s like a blessing to me.
Source: (Photo by Shannon Finney / Getty Images for ESSENCE) / (Photo by Shannon Finney / Getty Images for ESSENCE)
She hopes to broaden the hopes of other Cameroonian models. “We don’t like Tyra or Naomi Campbell banks from Cameroon,” she said.
“If I continue to be persistent it will hopefully someday be me.”
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