Supermodel/Actress Amanda Annan: Beauty Inside Out

British supermodel Amanda Annan may have entered into modelling by chance but her career so far has been nothing short of amazing. The slinky beauty says she did not choose modelling but modelling chose her. While working part time in a clothing store at age 16, she was head hunted by the world famous Unique Model Management agency. Within two weeks Amanda was shooting her first campaign for Vidal Sassoon. With her beauty and grace, it was not before long she started flying round the world for shoots and runway assignments in London, Paris, Milan and New York.

Amanda’s origin is as interesting as her career: her father is from Ghana and his father moved to Ghana as a child from Brazil in search of his roots; while her mother is from Martinique but grew up in Lagos. However Amanda was adopted at a young age and grew up in London. As the niece of Kofi Annan, she picked up plenty ambassadorial traits which she deploys in a number of charitable organizations like the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), as well raising money for the African Film Commission.
After gracing the covers of magazines like Elle Magazine, Women to Women, Photo Magazine and Fashion News, Amanda has also ventured into new territories including acting and broadcasting among others. Jamati Online caught up with Amanda to find out more about her career as a model, her desire to help the least fortunate, her ambitions and many other things that make her tick.

What went through your mind when Unique Model management approached you?

I was actually quite lucky in that, I was discovered by a make up artist, who then went on to introduce me to Unique Model management which at that time was one of the best model agencies to be with. I was a bit nervous going into the agency for the first time, as I used to be a very shy kid, however the nerves soon disappeared and Unique Model Management became a great growing ground for me.

What have been your highlights as a model since then?
Wow! So much has happened in such a short space of time. I have been the face of M-Net Africa; Vodafone Campaign; done a Vogue Cover; Ebel watches of Switzerland; been on the set of a Bond movie, worked with Alexander McQueen, and so much more. But I think the best thing to happen to me in my career was it gave me the opportunity to meet Nelson Mandela.

What have been the challenges?
Where do I start? There is the skin color thing of course – models not getting as much work as they should because they are not of the right ethnicity; but so much has changed since I started and things are getting much better. I know the color thing sounds cliché, but the truth is sometimes hard to hear.

So how can African models work towards becoming supermodels in spite of these challenges?
First, when it comes to African models I would like to say, they are all beautiful. The biggest challenge for African models or any woman of color thereof is the very color of the skin she is born in. There is a tendency to use fewer black girls and more Caucasian girls in the modeling industry. Sometimes if they do, they will use lighter skinned ones. I think models like Alek Wek have really shown that the beauty of a black woman comes in different types. The way forward for African women becoming supermodels is for us as a people to embrace our own beauty; respect our women; and propel them forward with love and adoration. We have to also develop our own fashion and modeling industries in Africa and show the world out there we do exist. Naomi Campbell so far has been the only real black supermodel. Iman is a great example of an African woman that holds her own.

What is your role in CAMFED?
CAMFED is an organization that supports the education of women in 5 African countries. They basically provide full support to these girls so they can go to school and their parents do not have to worry about fees, clothing or stationary even food. This saves a lot of girls from early marriages and also helps them become more self-sustaining in their society. CAMFED has so far educated about 4 million women with great success stories–some of these women are now doctors, accountants, lawyers and teachers and are going back into their communities to give back and support the younger ones. I am more like an ambassador and I help bring awareness to what they do. I am planning to go to Africa and tour all their schools and make a documentary about the organization and its effect on the Nation.

Are you involved in any other charities?
As far as charities go, I tend to do a lot with children’s charities. I am an Ambassador for One Laptop Per Child, which is a charity that provides laptops for children across the world, I started a small charity called ETC with a friend of mine and we are in the early stages of putting it all together.

What would you want to achieve with your career in the future?
At the moment I am in a transition from modeling to acting and also host my show segment on Brit Celeb TV. I run my own production company that does film and documentaries. I just finished filming a documentary with Sir Richard Branson. I think what I would like to achieve, more than any thing in the future, is to do more documentaries on Africa and its people and also be able to find ways that I can use the media and entertainment to help the underprivileged people there.

Having modeled for such fashion greats as Vidal Sassoon, Vivian Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, John Paul Gaultier, Emporio Armani, YSL and Galliano. Amanda is already in demand and you will be seeing her striking face in new campaigns across the globe!