Olajumoke Orisaguna's Story: "A Portrait Of Grace"

Ty Bello, Nigeria's acclaimed photographer, took time to narrate the divine meeting she had with Olajumoke Orisaguna, a tale of the unexpected. A very inspiring and interesting read..... morals of the story, when God steps into a situation, transformation occurs in a twinkling of an eye. Some have called this a Cinderella moment of 2016. I call it a blessing...

"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 her own photograph on his phone from face book. A mallam led her to my studio that morning . ..

She narrated her journey to Lagos ...A hair stylist from Ire in Osun state but not making enough profit between she 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 older 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 favourite hairstylist were at my studio to work magic. They had both followed the story online 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 couldn'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"

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 necessarily 'freedom ' ceremony ; a passing out ritual that gives a trainee a sometimes unwritten permission to start a full fledged 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 . 

To pay Jumoke her model fee from her first job in front of the camera we called @_ujumarshall one of Nigeria's 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 be model on their next billboard campaign . 

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

Just this morning, 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 .

Olajumoke behind the scenes : @emaedosio made a short documentary about this day .It was awesome working with such an amazing team @bimpeonakoya worked for free like she was paid a billion dollars . I love you with everything . @zubbydefinition oga zubs always making magic . We made that gold headpiece from scratch with gold bangles and a broach . Fitted like a crown!!!Thank you guys for sharing and being part of the story . I feel so fufilled and this whole process has blessed me beyond words . The meeting with @payporte was awesome today ... Go Jumoke !!!!!!

A video posted by TY Bello (@tybello) on Feb 7, 2016 at 8:08am PST