Emma Too was once one of the most recognised faces and names in the region’s modelling industry. She was the girl of men’s dreams in the 90s.
Too was MNET’s Face of Africa finalist in 1998. Her successful modelling career kicked off, taking her around the world.
She stood out not only because of her beauty and sense of style, but also graced every social event on the calendar.
The former queen of the catwalk, who is now in her 40s opened, recently opened up about the dark side of modelling which is rarely talked about.
Speaking during an interview with a local publication, Emma Too said so many models suffer psychologically because of the emotional torture they endure during auditions.
Too said body-shaming is common during auditions where models can be disqualified from beauty pageants simply because they have big nose or their body parts being undesirable in the modelling world.
She noted that the dark side to modelling can destroy a person’s mental wellness if they are not strong enough.
“What I mean when I say strong is that you can go for an audition and you will hear the reasons why you were not picked was maybe because your nose is too big or your feet are too big. There is this understanding that because you are a model you have no substance or say it has been known as the blonde career. But I am an individual who runs a successful business I live in my own home, who I was, does not matter where I am and where I am going is what matters,” Too said.
She further said that modelling is a temporarily career that can end in a blink of an eye.
“Before you get into modelling the individual has to understand that this is a very temporary career based on age and looks and very few people can do it for a long time. There is always a new model coming up,” Too said.
“The life span is very short you must always work on plan B, the fact that the industry is not doing well speaks more about the economics of the country and not necessarily that there are no good models in Kenya,” she added.
