FRUCHE Hand Beaded French lace Victorian Blouse’ and Hybrid Asoke skirt Outfit by @Fruche.official
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MAE OTTI MAE OTTI SUIT @mae_otti
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UJUESTELO TALLULAH DRESS FROM @UJUESTELO Available at @experiencezazaii
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EJIRO AMOS TAFIRI 4
FABLANE BY DERIN 5
DZYN COUTURE 6
NANA CLASIQUE 7
CONTENTS
pg 69 YANKARI GAMES RESERVE
CHINNY’S SERIES
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MODEL CASTING SECRETS
10
Bloggers weLove
13
Style star
15
Work and Business casual
18
28
59
Trendy
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DIY- HOOPS EARRINGS
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Subtle Make-up Look
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Hair Care
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The Organic Lady
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World Diabetes day 2017
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#FITFAM
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LOOKBOOKS
51
BRIDEZILLA
Features Wadi ben-hirki talks to Envogue Magazine about her NGO and her passion for the girl child.
pg 36 pg 61-66
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EDITOR’S NOTE Welcome to the November Edition of Envogue Magazine, your online digital magazine that will deliver to you what’s trending in Fashion and Lifestyle. The year is almost coming to an end and the year has gone by so fast. It seems time is faster these days, what have we got to do, we’ve got to move with the time. This edition is well colatted to give you what’s Envogue in Fashion and Lifestyle, starting from trendy styles to your current Lookbooks and some DIY, you are sure to enjoy this edition. Our feature of the month is the beautiful and amazing Wadi Ben-Hirki of Wadi Ban-Hirki Foundation on her passion for the girl child and her #loveinthemidstofwar campaign. For Travellogue this month, we headed to the Yankari Games Reserve in Bauchi state which is the number one Ecotourism center in Nigeria. Fashion heaats up at the Heineken Lagos Fashion and design week. Welcome on board and have a great read Chinny Ozota Editor Envogue Magazine
www.envogueng.wordpress.com issuu.com/envoguemagazine @envogue_magazine @envoguemag
Print Versions are also available at a special bulk rate witth free delivery
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I have have not really worn anything that is Ridiculous. Every look has been a hit haha! When styling my outfit I always start with the bottom. Every other thing comes later, but some days an entire look comes to my head at random moments – even if it’s 2 am, I always get up, put them together, wear and look into the mirror then go back to bed. Yeah, it gets pretty deep like that.
JENNIFER OSEH @theladyvhodka
TheLadyVhodka (Jennifer Oseh) is someone you cannot ignore once you arrive at her page on instagram. The fashfabness is next to none and we definitely wanted to know more. Thanks to Cassie Daves of cassiedaves.com for getting her to divulge some of her secrets. Here are the Excerpts from the interview I am Jennifer Oseh ‘theladyvhodka’, I am a fashion blogger though I used to be a video vixen but I still accept invites to Cameo Appearances. Daily, I’m on the move, putting together things for my work as a fashion stylist now. Transitioning was a major step I had to take this year. Although, most people already expected me to be a stylist ages ago. I used to get messages daily from people who wanted me to style them, but I kept turning it down till one day I accepted a request, got paid well for it and I just haven’t looked back since then. The journey has not been smooth, to be honest. Like almost every business out there, nobody tells you everything! You have to learn on the job and that’s what I’m doing I think I’ll say that my love for fashion grew on me. As an adolescent, my dad used to buy our clothes himself. He would take a day out and go to China town to shop clothes for the family. I’d say that at the time, I knew more of what I didn’t like to wear. As I grew older, I started shopping for myself and realized that I had an eye for shopping really nice clothes and it just kept getting better over time. It definitely took me a while to understand my style and be confident about it. At some point, I wasn’t confident enough to wear what I liked because I often got remarks like ” what are you wearing”, “you can wear rubbish sha” and “are you really going out like this”? And those things really got to me. I found myself trying to tame my creative side to avoid backlash from these basic minded people. It took me a while to understand that like they say “to each his own” and we should really do what makes us happy you know. I got over such remarks and ever since my confidence became a 101! I’ve been able to inspire and influence people to push fashion boundaries. My style is very androgynous, edgy, versatile and chic.
For my style influences, My mom’s old photos influenced my style to an extent because as a young lady, my mom was into men’s wear a lot. Lisa Folawiyo, Kanye west, and Solange get me all the time! Although most people seem to think my style is influenced by Rihanna( I ADORE HER BTW) . The one piece of clothing I always reach out for in my closet is JOGGERS! And house robes! That’s really what I wear in real life when I’m not stunting on the gram. In my opinion, I would say that one of the most underrated piece of fashion item is Sunglasses! Not enough people know the power of sunglasses. Do you even know what a pair can do to a drab outfit or a selfie? A lesson for another day though. As for where I shop, I would say I don’t have a particular store or something like that, I shop anywhere and everywhere and currently have a very reliable personal shopper CocoRichelle, who I like to call “The plug”. I can’t afford my favorite Nigerian brands though – JewelsbyLisa, Orange Culture (I’m a menswear fanatic, did I already say that?), Nuraniya, Onalaja, Wear what you like, how you like it. Don’t be afraid to explore your creative side with fashion Andrea Iyamah gets me. One of my style hacks is One word – Layering! And no, it doesn’t have to be with thick fabrics because I know someone will say hiaaan, in this our hot country lol. Layering does it for me all/most of the time. For Favorite fashion trend right now I would say Mixing Prints. You know how sometimes you put an outfit together and you just sit there hyping yourself because you look so dope in it?! That. I haven’t quite hit it yet. There are many times when I feel like I could have done better with an outfit, styled it differently or something. But then I see 50 comments ” kill us”, “slay mama ” and I’m just there like “bish where ” . It keeps getting better, I’ll give myself credit but I don’t have a favorite yet hehe. My advice is Two things: 1 – Wear what you like, how you like it. Don’t be afraid to explore your creative side with fashion and 2 – never be a slave to trends!
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Credits- @theladyvhodka
“Wear what you like, how you like it. Don’t be afraid to explore your creative side with fashion”
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Collins Badewa is a Nigerian based fashion blogger, he is currently a student of the University of Ilorin, He was inspired to venture into fashion blogging because he needed a space to explain his style by publishing rather than talking and blogging was the closest and also turned out to be the most interesting. To describe his style he says “My style varies from Dapper ensembles to street style. Personally, I feel having just one style makes you boring and predictable. And once you’re predictable, people get bored. Personally, style has always been a means of self expression. It has always been a way of communicating with like minded people without necessarily having to speak. Owing to this, one important thing to me is that my outfit should have the ability to adjust to any situation when necessary especially when you are always on the move. To describe my sense of style in 3 words it would be “Experimental, Defiant and Oxymoronic (mixing of opposite elements – Modern and Vintage)” Speaking of challenges in the fashion blogging world, he says “Well, the stereotype is definitely a real thing. It’s been challenging especially in a country where most males don’t pay attention to fashion bloggers. I’ve found my way around that though. His most important fashion accessory is a pair of sunglasses. “ I’m a sunglasses hoarder. And also, my eyes are very sensitive to light so it’s necessary.
Collins Badewa @Collins.haute Talking about how he combines blogging to other areas of his life,’ It wasn’t easy at first but the key is planning and time allocation. Have strict schedules you follow. His favorite sneaker brand is New Balance. They have really nice colors and structures. Well, I’m not where I want to be but I’ve had some really memorable moments in fashion blogging. I’ve been featured in a magazine, some fashion websites home and abroad. Being called to speak as a panelist at an event. Aside from blogging about my style I love to cook ,and not to brag but I’m good at it. And you know what they say, “Turn your talents to fortunes”. For future plans… I’d be lying if I said this is not more than a hobby. I’ve been paid twice as a brand influencer which felt good. I’d love that to continue and for that to continue I have to take things up a notch which I plan to. Fingers crossed, the future is a big place. Versatility in style doesn’t necessarily mean losing your style. It means making your style work in different situations. thestreethaute.wordpress.com
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12
WHY
WE
LOVE RITA
DOMINIC I
t is no secret that Rita Dominic is one of the greatest actors in Nollywood, the 42 year old actress is very talented and can practically pull off any role. Some of her movies includes ‘The Meeting’, ‘Suru L’ere’ and ‘76’. The Beautiful actress has worn countless awards to recognize her works both Nationally and Internationally. She is also a mentor to many as it is almost impossible to meet a younger or new Nollywood actor who dosen’t consider her a role model. As an AFRIFF Ambassador, the actress has found a way to carry new actors along. She slays when it comes to her fashion and style. She has a versatile and classic style. Rita is also passionate about giving back to the society and she does so at any opportunity she gets. She works with an organization that supports the physically challenged with the aim to provide them with facilities that will improve their wellbeing. On Marriage she says “ I believe that God is in charge of my life and will present the right man to me at the right time”. We wish her all the best in her endeavours.
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STYLE STAR BIG SEAN Big Sean with real name Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. Sean signed with Kanye West’s GOOD Music in 2007, Def Jam Recordings in 2008 and Roc Nation in 2014. He released an Album earlier this year titled, I decided. At just 27-years-old the Detroit MC has accomplished so much, earning himself platinum and gold plaques and chart-topping singles, all while delivering unforgettable albums. Sean always seems to pick the right beat, spit the perfect rhyme and lay the perfect flow, but it’s not just his music either. He has given us so many reasons to celebrate, from his fashion sense to the way he treats his lady. We can’t mention Big Sean without speaking about his keen fashion sense. His unique tastes have scored him a number of cameos on E!’s “Fashion Police.” Not a surprise that he has his own fashion label as he wants his fans to wear what he is wearing. We can’t say anything else. Let’s take a look at some of his styles.
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WORK AND BUSINESS CASUAL, 3 BLOGGERS SHOW US HOW ITS DONE
Dressing up clean and smart for the office, and switching things up once you live the office especially in environments that have casual, somewhat laid back dress codes, can be achieved. We’ve got three fashion bloggers to show us how to achieve the work and business casual look. For Chic Ama’s (@chicamastyle) work look, it is all about this beautiful irregular structured Belle- Ruffle Statement Midi Skirt. This Pencil/Bodycon Midi Skirt gets a feminine update with cascading pleats and ruffles. Pair with any beautiful solid or multicolored shirt/ blouse which could be perfect for work or any occasion. She showcased two different skirt colors to give you more options on which to splurge on. Both colors are nice, the most amazing part of this look is that the skirts could be paired with any type of top or blouse, as it is a solid colored skirt. For this look! she paired both skirts with a floral chic blouse. She switched up the shoes to compliment each looks.
Ensemble Top is available at divabby.com Skirt also at divabby.com $49.99 Chloe Jackson Oversized Round Metal Sunglasses USD 396.00 at www.neimanmarcus.com Earings and Clutch sold out here www.nordstromrack.com Chriatian louboutin Pumps available at www.bergdorfgoodman. com credits chicamastyle.com
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Here fashion blogger @edaroseofficial dressed up in key fashion pieces that immediately turned a casual wardrobe into a business one. To look smart only requires that you invest in versatile pieces like a clean crisp, white shirt. As shown in the first look, she is wearing a white top that resembles a blouse and then adds to her look, a gold choker jewellery piece which gives an edgy elegant appeal. Along with a tailored trouser, a fashion item that you can never go wrong with for the office. The form fitting trouser is shown in both looks. The second look is a black cat suit detailed with lace elements and cut out blocks paired with pink patent pumps to dress it down for a more casual, laid back feel. Keeping our colour tones neutral such as a basic black or classic white gives the outfits a more put together, professional look that’s never out of style, colours that, when worn, make any outfit look dressed up. This makes for winning office wear that’s minimalistic chic.
Black Cat Suit from Zara | Pink Patent Pumps From Zara | Tennis Bracelet from Browns | http://edaroseofficial.com
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@bosiandcharles showing at the Glitz Africa fashion and design week this october. The Bosi and Charles Spring/Summer 2018 collection featured peices that that are work and business casual. This pink suit is an example of that. Rocking this suit with a white sneaker also shows it can function as a casual outfit at the same time as a work look. Outfits are available at www.bosiandcharles.com
A part of the collection from Bosi and Charles also shows the versatility of this look as a business work casual look. outfits are also available at www.bosiandcharles.com
Media personality Ebuka Obi Uchendu is also giving us a dose of the work business casual look. For this look he paired a light blue suit with black pants and white sneakers. credits @ebuka instagram.
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Y THE BERET D
N E R
T
IS BACK
The Beret used to be a fashion staple back in the days and it may be actually correct to call it old school and it is true that this French inspired hats is making a comeback in a great way. A host of celebrities is leading the campaign. From Rihanna toBella Hadid and Kendall Jenner who has been spotted waering a beret. I know you are excited am personally I wish to get in on the action. The amazing thing about a beret is that it is completely versatile and can blend with almost any look. The deal would be to find your size and the right colour to go with your outfit. Once that has been acheived you can be sure to up your look with the Beret. From atleisure to work wear and even red carpet ensembles berets can truly do double duty. Isabelle Huppert paired her black tie look at this year’s Met Gala with a lopsided beret. Cara Delevingne was pictured wearing a Red Beret perfectly matched her Red lips. Winnie Harlow was also spotted outside the Christian Dior Haute Couture show, and the hottest accessory we can see is her black beret. So you see, this fashion peice has made a come back so you can also get in on the action.
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HOOPS AND DENIM Hoops and denim Hoop earrings are a classic jewelry accessory must-have. They flatter all face shapes, can be petite or grand, and come in designs that range from classic to trendy to BLING! It’s safe to say that the earrings of the year are the hoops, they have always been a thing and became even more so after Yarashahidi’s recreation of Shade’s hoops and denim picture. The year saw an insurge of mixes of simpler hair do’s with lavish makeup routines and exaggerated jewelry. And the hoops were perhaps the best of them especially when paired with denim.. With a variety of colours and designs we can’t say we are bored with them just yet, the right hoops or fringe earrings have that popping power to transform a face from ‘oh cute’ to ‘damn gurl’! Now add a nice denim pair to that equation and Voila, Issa hit! The 2017 casual chic girl look is denim with tassels or hoops and Its pretty cool. Personally I prefer hoops with upswept hairstyles and tassels with a hairdo that’s down but hey, whatever bakes your potato. The hoops and denim is a simple but very chic look and I hope it sticks for a while.
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DIY
HOW TO MAKE WiRE HOOp EARRiNgS WiTH BEADS
Supplies 1mm wire Flat nose pliers Round nose pliers Nail file or cup burr Ring mandrel (or cylindrical object in your desired hoop size) Chasing hammer
Step 1 After deciding your hoop size, wrap your wire around a ring mandrel (or cylindrical object the correct size) a couple of times at the appropriate point.
Step 2 Cut the wire so it has an overlap of around 2cm.
Step 3 Use your round nose pliers to turn a loop in one end of the wire. Hold the end of the wire in between the two plier points (around the middle) and turn a loop 90 degrees to the side of the wire.
Step 4 Using your flat nose pliers, hold the other end of the wire at the same point as the loop and bend the wire 45 degrees upwards.
Step 5 Slip in the beads and Slot the straight end into the loop and trim the end to roughly around 5mm.
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MAKE-UP SUBTLE MAKE-UP LOOK
To start trim your eyebrows, remove unwanted hairs and then fill them in using a brow pencil. Next, we define the brows by concealing unwanted hairs and highlighting the brow bone using a concealer several shades lighter than your skin tone.
Your next step should be to decide on what colour(s) you want your eye shadow to be. Remember, you don’t need to wear too many colours on your lid to look beautiful. Here, we chose shades of grey, brown and black. Give it a go! Start by applying the lightest grey in the inner corner of your eyes, then the medium grey in the middle of your lid, followed by the darkest grey on the outermost corner of the eyes. Lastly, add a little black to the edges and blend out for a smokey effect. In the crease, apply a chocolate brown eye shadow and remember to blend it out. This will not only add definition to the eye but will take off all the sharp edges from the grey and black.
Next, draw on your waterline using a black pencil or black liner and add some lashes for extra Vavavoom. Here’s a before and after close up of the eyes. Once her eyes were sorted, my focus changed to her skin. Though acne free and with great tight pores, we needed to ensure that we eliminated any darkness around her eyes. The first thing to remember is to prep the skin with a primer. After which you can apply a foundation of your choice. If unsure of your shade, test a little amount on your jaw line. In Ama’s case, we wanted a matte finish. Thus, we set her foundation with a powder, using a brush, not a puff. You should “press” on your powder, not “rub”. Next, apply blush to enhance the cheekbones. Sweep on some lip colour and you’re done! Credits- ShoMya Makeover and Onobello.com
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HAIR 5 NATURAL WAYS TO GREAT HAIR
Spending too much on expensive shampoos, but not getting the desired results that you see in TV ads? It is mostly possible and very common, because we see overly exaggerated results on TV, since these ads are designed to attract customers. But, reality speaks a different story. Instead of spending on those branded shampoos and conditioners, Follow these easy and simple beauty tips for hair to give that luster and shine, and flaunt your hair like the models do... 1. Egg treatment Use the entire egg to condition your hair. If you have dry or brittle hair, use egg whites to moisturize your hair. Use ½ cup of any egg mixture (egg white, entire egg) and apply to clean, damp hair. Leave it for 20 minutes and rinse with cool water. Try this one of the most effective beauty tips for hair and notice the change, 2. Cleanliness is important The most important reason for hair fall is dandruff and itchy scalp . Therefore, maintain good cleanliness for beautiful and healthy hair. 3. Avoid hot water Skip hot water showers, because hot water will make your hair dry and brittle as it strips protective oils from your hair. Thus, prefer a temperature which is just a bit warmer than your body temperature. 4. For that shiny soft hair Prepare a mixture of 1 cup of your daily conditioner and 2-3 tablespoons of honey. Apply this mixture evenly on your wet hair. Leave it for 30 minutes and wash it off thoroughly. This mixture will close down your hair’s cuticle and give your hair that amazing shine. 5. Baking soda therapy One of the beauty tips for hair is Baking soda therapy. Make a mixture of 3 tbsp. of baking soda and some water. Rinse your hair with this solution after shampooing. Let it set in for at least 5 minutes before the final rinse. This therapy will help to remove the excess shampoo and styling product from your hair.
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I
am the organic Lady and I will show you why and how you must start living an organic lifestyle. Organic Living is Better for Health and a way of life which is not only nurturing but also helps with leading a life not riddled with lifestyle diseases. We are so accustomed to buying synthetic products and eating processed items, that it becomes increasingly difficult to come to terms with the fact that there are other eating options too. Organic is being as close to nature as possible. Everywhere we look around now, we see genetically modified organisms, something or the other to bother us with and we are not all that willing to give up on the stuff. We cling on to what we see, what is available and do not take particular interest in looking around for the right item for consumption. Were you aware of the underwater greenhouses which grow pesticide free food? These are the benefits of going the organic way. Organic living does not just mean you adapt to new eating habits, but also that you accept to avoid many other items which are not what you would consider to be the ideal items for consumption. Say, one should avoid reusing plastic bottles for drinking water out of it; using specific vegetables or fruits to beat the heat and curtail the cold you feel. Healthy live can come our way without one having to use factory manufactured products. organic lifestyle can be seen as daunting, expensive and just too damn hard but it is not true, Many people who recognize the likely benefits of including organic food and other organic products (think personal care and cleaning products) in their lives can fall by the wayside when they try to embrace the change cold turkey and with no going back. I would advocate a different approach: Take baby steps, notice any difference in your health, moods and energy levels and once you have, you’ll find you’re motivated to go to the next level. To make it easier for you I’ve put together seven easy steps you can take to embracing more organic-driven habits on a daily basis.
1. Start with staples - Food is surely one of the joys of life and consuming food that you have lovingly prepared from garden to table is a great motivator and eye-opener when it comes to seeing exactly what you put in your mouth. So start with replacing some of your daily or weekly grocery items with more natural alternatives — lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, prepared as soon as possible after purchase, free range (or preferably organic) eggs from happy hens, free range meat sources if you can locate a producer who provides quality of life for his stock, olive oil and coconut oil that is cold pressed and not subject to chemical extraction processes — these are some ideas to get you started. Prepare at least one meal per week (more if you can manage) where you involve the family in the food prep and clean up, giving you a chance to discover and discuss the origin and benefits of the food they are seeing on their plates. 2. Check out your local food producers- When you purchase your food from local producers, you are helping your local, regional and national economy. You are assisting your community to reduce green house gasses by cutting out the food miles that are incurred when produce is imported from countries half way around the world. You are helping someone in your community feed their own family by helping to provide an income and stability in their livelihood. There is so much uncertainty in the world caused by economic forces that this is a very small thing that you can do to make a huge difference. You and your community will reap the benefits. 3. Visit farmers markets - Check out your local farmers markets. Get up close and personal with food producers in your area — ask them about their produce, what is in season (and therefore at its best), what growing practices they use to bring the produce to market, what is their favorite way of enjoying it. If you don’t have a farmers market close to you then seek out a local organic produce market or an organic produce delivery service. I use a local organic service from Byron Bay and they deliver me a beautiful surprise box of seasonal organic produce that is bursting with goodness every week at a very reasonable price. It challenges me to cook the freshest produce that is at its best, and I know what I prepare will taste incredibly delicious. On the other hand, if you shop at a large supermarket, who knows if what you are seeing on the shelves is in season or if it has been in cold storage for months? I know where I want to put my money! 4. Read your labels - Many food items that fill up the grocery cart these days are unrecognizable from what they began as in their raw state — overly processed, any natural fats they may have started with stripped out and replaced by sugar that can cause addiction, obesity, diabetes and a host of other health and societal issues, and having a shelf life that could possibly outlive a nuclear holocaust — this is what the majority of the population consumes as a matter of course. The next time you’re at the supermarket, take some time to read the labels and the nutrition panel. If the print is too small, then have your reading glasses with you — it’s an eye-opener, I promise! If there are any ingredients you don’t recognize, then you’ve got to really ask “If I was preparing this at home from scratch, would I put that in?” 5. Shop on the outskirts - I don’t mean to shop on the outskirts of town, but if that’s where your farmers markets set up, then by all means do! What I mean is that when you are in the supermarket, shop on the outside aisles for most of your food. Supermarkets are generally set up with the fruit and veg, meat and fish sections on the perimeter in the layout of the store. If you look at the centre aisles you’ll likely find all the sodas, sweets and other junk foods. 6. Grow something — anything You may not have the space for a full blown veggie garden that is bursting with ripe tomatoes, plump lettuces and bulging aubergines — But anybody can find a window sill that will host a modest small pot of one or two herbs — try parsley, basil or oregano. You could grow a pot of cherry tomatoes on a balcony, or if you have room for more then there are a lot of veggies that can be grown in tubs and that don’t require a proper garden at all. Remember to water them regularly and they will reward you with a burst of real flavor and goodness. If you don’t cook, you can snip off some fresh herbs and nibble them as you go about your day — it’s the best ‘vitamin pill’ you could wish for and probably the most nutrient dense thing you’ll consume all day. 7. Don’t be too rigid - Finally, don’t be too gung-ho about your attempts at adopting an organic lifestyle. As I said before, baby steps to build on what you experience, notice and learn about what you consume will promote awareness, wonder and joy in that most basic of items — your daily food
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HEALTH
WORLD DIABETES DAY 2017
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uesday, 14 November is the World Diabetes Day 2017 from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) www.idf.org The theme of World Diabetes Day 2017 is Women and diabetes - our right to a healthy future. The campaign will promote the importance of affordable and equitable access for all women at risk for or living with diabetes to the essential diabetes medicines and technologies, self- management education and information they require to achieve optimal diabetes outcomes and strengthen their capacity to prevent type 2 diabetes Key messages All women with diabetes require affordable and equitable access to care and education to better manage their diabetes and improve their health outcomes. There are currently over 199 million women living with diabetes . This total is projected to increase to 313 million by 2040. Two out of every five women with diabetes are of reproductive age, accounting for over 60 million women worldwide. Diabetes is the ninth leading cause of death in women globally, causing 2.1 million deaths per year . Women with type 2 diabetes are almost 10 times more likely to have coronary heart disease than women without the condition. Women with type 1 diabetes have an increased risk of early miscarriage or having a baby with malformations. What needs to be done is that Health systems must pay adequate attention to the specific needs and priorities of women. All women with diabetes should have access to the essential diabetes medicines and technologies, self- management education and information they need to achieve optimal diabetes outcomes. All women with diabetes should have access to pre-conception planning services to reduce risk during pregnancy. All women and girls should have access to physical activity to improve their health outcomes. During Pregnant women require improved access to screening, care and education to achieve positive health outcomes for mother and child. 1 in 7 births is affected by gestational diabetes (GDM). IDF estimates that 20.9 million or 16.2% of live births to women in 2015 had some form of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy. Approximately half of women with a history of GDM go on to develop type 2 diabetes within five to ten years after delivery. Half of all cases of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy occur in women under the age of 30 . The vast majority of cases of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy were in low- and middle-income countries , where access to maternal care is often limited. What needs to be done -Type 2 diabetes prevention strategies must focus on maternal health and nutrition and other health behaviours before and during pregnancy, as well as infant and early childhood nutrition. Antenatal care visits during pregnancy must be optimized for health promotion in young women and early detection of diabetes and GDM . Screening for diabetes and GDM should be integrated into other maternal health interventions and services at primary healthcare level to ensure early detection, better care for women and reduced maternal mortality . Healthcare workers should be trained in the identification, treatment, management and follow up of diabetes during pregnancy . Women and girls are key agents in the adoption of healthy lifestyles to improve the health and wellbeing of future generations. Supporting facts -Up to 70% of cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented through the adoption of a healthy lifestyle. 70% of premature deaths among adults are largely due to behavior initiated during adolescence. Women, as mothers, have a huge influence over the long-term health status of their children. Research has shown that when mothers are granted greater control over resources, they allocate more to food, children’s health and nutrition, and education. Women are the gatekeepers of household nutrition and lifestyle habits and therefore have the potential to drive prevention from the household and beyond. What needs to be done are for Women and girls to be empowered with easy and equitable access to knowledge and resources to strengthen their capacity to prevent type 2 diabetes in their families and better safeguard their own health. Promoting opportunities for physical exercise in adolescent girls , particularly in developing countries, must be a priority for diabetes prevention. Gestational diabetes only happens during pregnancy. If you have it, you can still have a healthy baby, with help from your doctor and by doing simple things every day to manage your blood sugar. After your baby is born, you may not have diabetes anymore.
Gestational Diabetes is a form of high blood sugar affecting pregnant women. Gestational diabetes is a condition in which a woman without diabetes develops high blood sugar levels during pregnancy. It’s most common in the last three months of pregnancy. Like other types of diabetes, gestational diabetes affects how the cells use sugar (glucose). Gestational diabetes causes high blood sugar that can affect your pregnancy and your baby’s health. Gestational diabetes makes you more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, but it won’t definitely happen. Causes During pregnancy, the placenta makes hormones that can lead to a buildup of sugar in your blood . Usually, your pancreas can make enough insulin to handle that. If not, your blood sugar levels will rise and can cause gestational diabetes. Are You at Risk? You are more likely to get gestational diabetes if: You were overweight before you got pregnant. You are African-American, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American. Your blood sugar levels are high, but not high enough to be diabetes . Diabetes runs in your family. You’ve had gestational diabetes before. For Diagnosis Your doctor will check to see if you have gestational diabetes ASAP if you’re likely to get it, or between weeks 24 and 28 of your pregnancy if you’re not at high risk. To test for gestational diabetes, you will quickly drink a sugary drink. This will raise your blood sugar levels. An hour later, you’ll take a blood test to see how your body handled all that sugar. If the result shows that your blood sugar higher than a certain cut off (anywhere from 130 milligrams per deciliter [mg/dL] or higher), you will need additional testing. This will require testing your blood sugar while fasting and a longer glucose test that will be done over a three hour period. If your results are normal but you have a high risk of getting gestational diabetes, you may need a follow-up test later in your pregnancy to make sure you still don’t have it. Treatment >To treat gestational diabetes, your doctor will ask you to: Check your blood sugar levels four or more times a day. Do urine tests that check for ketones, which mean that your diabetes is not under control Eat a healthy diet that’s in line with your doctor’s recommendations Make exercise a habit Your doctor will track how much weight you gain and let you know if you need to take insulin or other medicine for your gestational diabetes. PREVENTION Includes 1. Eat healthy foods. Choose foods high in fiber and low in fat and calories. ... 2. Keep active. Exercising before and during pregnancy can help protect you from developing gestational diabetes. ... 3. Lose excess pounds before pregnancy. Doctors don’t recommend weight loss during pregnancy. 24
#FITFAM
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CHINNY’S SERIES
15 THINGS SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO DIFFERENTLY I recently interviewed over 200 ultra-productive people including seven Billionaires, 13 Olympians, 20 straight-A students and over 200 successful entrepreneurs. I asked a simple, open minded question, “what is your number one secret to productivity?” After analyzing all of their responses, I coded their answers into 15 unique ideas. Secret # 1: They focus on minutes not hours Average performers default to hours and half-hour blocks on their calendar. Highly successful people know there are 1,440 minutes in every day and there is nothing more valuable than time. Money can be lost and made again, but time spent can never be reclaimed. As Legendary Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller told me, “To thisday, I keep a schedule that is almost minute by minute.” You must master your minutes to master your life. Secret #2: They focus on one thing Ultra productive people know their Most important Task (MIT) and work on it for one to two hours each morning, without interruptions. Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar Inc shared, “Invest the first part of your day working on your number one priority that will help build your business.” What task will have the biggest impact on reaching your goal? What accomplishment will get you promoted at work? Secret #3: They don’t use to-do lists Throw away your to-do list, instead schedule everything on your calendar. It turns out only 41% of items on to-do lists are ever actually done. And all those undone items lead to stress and insomnia because of the Zeigarnik effect. Highly productive people put everything in there calendar and then work and live from that calendar. “Use a calendar and schedule your entire day into 15-minute blocks. It sounds like a pain, but this will set you up in the 95th percentile..” advices the cofounder of Art of Charm Jordan Harbinger. Secret #4: They beat procrastination with time travel. Your future self can’t be trusted. That’s because we are “time inconsistent.” We buy veggies today because we think we will eat healthy salads all week; then we throw out green rotting mush in the future. I bought P90x because I think I’ m going to start exercising vigorously and yet the box sits unopened one year later. What can you do now to make sure your future self does the right thing? Anticipate how you will self-sabotage in the future, and come up with a solution to defeat your future self.
Secret#5: They make it home for dinner I first learned this from Intel’s Andy Grove,” There is always more to be done, more that should be done, always more that can be done.” Highly successful people know what they value in life, yes, work, but also what else they value. There is no right answer, but for many, values include: Family, time, exercise, giving back. They consciously allocate their 1,440 minutes a day to each area they value (i.e., they put it on their calendar) and then they stick to the schedule. Secret #6: They use a notebook. Richard Branson has said on more than one occasion that he wouldn’t have been able to build Virgin without a simple notebook, which he takes with him wherever he goes. In one interview, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis said, “Always carry a notebook. Write everything down..That is a million dollar lesson they don’t teach you in business school!” Ultra-productive people free their mind by writing everything down. Secret #7: They process email only a few times a day. Ultra-productive people don’t “check” email throughout the day. They don’t respond to each vibration or ding to see who has intruded their inbox. Instead, like everything else, they schedule time to process their email quickly and efficiently. For some that’s only once a day, for me, it’s morning, noon and night. Secret #8: They avoid meetings at all costs. When I asked Mark Cuban to give me his best productivity advice, he quickly responded, “Never take meetings unless someone is writing a check.” Meetings are notorious time killers. They start late, have the wrong people in them, meander in their topics and run long. You should get out of meetings whenever you can, hold fewer of them yourself, and if you do run a meeting, keep it short. Secret #9: They say “No” to almost everything Billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” And James Altucher colorfully gave me this tip, “If something is not a “hell, YEAH! Then it’s a no!” Remember you have 1,440minutes in every day. Don’t give them away easily. Secret #10: They follow the 80/20 rule. Known as the Pareto Principle, in most cases 80% of outcomes come from only 20% of activities. Ultra-productive people know which activities drive the greatest results, and focus on those and ignore the rest.
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Secret #11: They delegate almost everything. Ultra-productive people don’t ask, “How can I do this task?” They take the “I” out of it as much as possible. Ultra-productive people don’t have control issues and they are not micro-managers. In many cases good enough is, well, good enough. Secret #12: They theme days of the week. Highly successful people often theme days of the week to focus on major areas. For decades I’ve used “Mondays for meetings” and make sure I’m doing one-on-one check-ins with each direct report. My Friday afternoons are themed around financials and general administrative items that I want to clean up before the new week starts. I’ve previously written about Jack Dorsey’s work themes which enable him to run two companies at once. Batch your work to maximize your efficiency and effectiveness. Secret #13: They touch things only once How many times have you opened a piece of regular email – a bill perhaps – and then put it down only to deal with it again later? How often do you read an email, and then close it and leave it in your inbox to deal with it later? Highly successful people try to “touch it once.” If it takes less than five or ten minutes – whatever it is – they’ll deal with it right then and there. It reduces stress since it won’t be in the back of their mind, and is more efficient since they won’t have to re-read or evaluate the item again in the future. Secret#14: They practice a consistent morning routine. My single greatest surprise while interviewing over 200 highly successful people was how many of them wanted to share their morning ritual with me. Hal Elrod author of the MiracleMorning, told me, “While most people focus on ‘doing’ more to achieve more, The Miracle Morning is about focusing on becoming more so that you can start doing less, to achieve more.” While I heard about a wide variety of habits, most people I interviewed nurtured their body in the morning with water, a healthy breakfast and light exercise. They nurtured their mind with meditation or prayer, inspirational reading or journaling. Secret#15: Energy is everything You can’t make more minutes in the day, but you can increase your energy which will increase your attention, focus, decision making, and overall productivity. Highly successful people don’t skip meals, sleep or breaks in pursuit of more, more, more. Instead, they view food as fuel, sleep as recovery, and pulse and pause with “work sprints” Tying it All Together You may not be an entrepreneur, Olympian, or millionaire – or even want to be – but their secrets just might help you to get more done in less time, and help you to stop feeling overworked and overwhelmed. Credits – Kevin Kruse is the author of the bestselling book 15secrets Successful People know about time management and the ready-to-print ‘Infographic: 15 Things Ultra Productive People do differently.
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MODEL CASTING SECRETS
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A few people might know this about me already but I’ll confess – I’m a bit of a control freak. I like scheduling my movements, controlling every situation and getting things done by a particular time but I am here to admit that since I moved to Lagos from Abuja I’ve realized that in regards to timing and scheduling in the City of Excellence? It can never go well. I promised to keep you all updated on what happens in my life as a model so here I am. I swear It has been a crazy but fun month for me and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting prospective clients and not so prospective ones. I had a casting last week but no pictures to show for it , like who goes for a casting and won’t take a few pictures?? Me apparently. Whenever I go for a casting I am always prepared, I always have little or no make up on, heels in my bag, fully charged phones, some fruit and energy bars in my bag because you never know how long it will take, so I always want to have something to nibble on so I don’t end up getting upset and pouring all that frustration on innocent people all in the name of hunger.
These are the rules I would say prospective models should bear in mind when going for castings Rule No. 1 – Never go to a casting with so too much make up on your face and always have your hair pulled back in a pony tail or behind your ears. Why? Because the client always wants to see your facial features and also what looks like a professional model standing in front of them not a makeup artist. Rule No. 2 – Always remember to carry the pair of stilettos you are very comfortable in so you don’t end up walking funny and then blame it on the shoes. Rule No. 3 – Remember to wear figure hugging clothes like skinny jeans and a black tank top so the client can see your actual body size and not confuse a size 6 with an 8. Rule No. 4 – Try to be professional when it comes to castings – show up with your portfolio and always keep it updated, remember this is your resumé which you would use to sell yourself in other to get hired for the job Rule No. 5 – Make your look memorable. Have a unique style that highlights your best features and will make the client pick you over the other model without hesitation. Rule No 6 – Punctuality is everything, always get to the venue 30 minutes before the start time, it gives you an edge over the other models and means you won’t be flustered. I know most of you may not believe me but if you keep to these rules you will have a better chance of leaving the casting venue super excited because you got the job which means extra coins in your pocket. Now back to my casting. I thought it was going to be quick and straight to the point but it wasn’t. From having to wait for the other models to arrive, to the client wasting our time when the models where finally all there and oh my was it a long wait! We eventually started the casting after like 3 hours of waiting, walked the walk and showed her what we were made of then she picked the models she wanted and yes I was one of them. I didn’t end up going back to the office, why? Oh well I spent the whole day at the venue all in the name of casting but yay I got the job!
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MEET THE DESIGNER
EJIRO AMOS TAFIRI 30
Were your parents supportive? Of course! They paid my fees but they weren’t happy, my mum recently told me she was embarrassed when people asked her how is your daughter, what is she doing now? They expected to hear “she is studying medicine. It was more because I was a very bright child so they expected me to study medicine or engineering, but when they hear fashion at Yaba Tech, the first question they will ask her is polytechnic? Fashion? Tailor? What happened? It made my parents embarrassed and they didn’t like it. I also got grounded a couple of times. The only way to pay them back was to be successful at it. So immediately I got into Yaba Tech I made sure I was the best student from my first year to final year, it either succeeds or nothing. I don’t know how I saw those things as a sixteen- year-old girl.
Were you hesitant at a point? No,I didn’t What have been the changes between then and now?
Meet Ejiro Amos Tafiri: Foremost Nigerian Fashion Designer
My parents are now very happy, they gradually accepted, I was doing well in school so my lecturers always wanted to see them, I was the youngest in my department. They were proud, but that kind of pride only shows in the school environment but when you were in church or somewhere else, they just felt somehow about it. But when I won prizes, started showing on TV, newspapers, they felt proud. But my daddy always says, “I still want my doctor, though.” Eventually, once I started running my business, succeeding to the point where I can take care of myself and employing people, everyone is happy.
Designer Ejiro Amos Tafiri was born in the vibrant city of Lagos.
She hails from Delta state, Nigeria. Ejiro Amos Tafiri is a fast growing brand in the Nigerian fashion sector. A company based in Lagos, Nigeria and was officially launched in 2010; Ejiro Amos Tafiri is a fashion brand which completely represents the ideology of the modern woman’s taste in fashion that best represents her sensuality and her sense of style. Their services include a ready to wear line with superior quality, unique and carefully crafted garments and accessories to give a sense of modernity, modesty, functionality and a spark of funk that guarantees utmost satisfaction as well as a more affordable range of clothing from the diffusion line. Celebrity designer, Ejiro Amos Tafiri reminisces with Guardian Woman Reporter ‘’Kemi Amushan’’ on how her fashion brand grew from her bed room to creating styles for the runway. How did the Ejiro Amos Tafiri Brand come to be? As a child growing up my parents thought I would be a medical doctor. But when I was in SS1 I was a science student, but my Agric teacher was pregnant at that time and wasn’t teaching. At that time I just wanted a very easy vocational subject that will be fun to do, so I dropped agric and picked up clothing and textile, and my very first class, we went on an excursion to Yaba Tech that was how I discovered fashion. Though growing up I always loved clothes, as a child, my favourite outfit was iro and buba and I liked to wear matching outfits. If for one reason my shoe didn’t match my bag I would have a bad day, and any day I wore a completely matching outfit that was a fantastic day. That is why I considered clothing and textile. When I got to Yaba tech, I discovered that fashion designing has a combination of everything I loved subtracting, addition, I like to draw, it seemed like technical drawing is the same thing as pattern drafting, I just knew I has found my career, but I didn’t tell anyone at that time, because fashion design was not recognised career, because it was left for dropouts , those who did not attend university or those who did not have the mental capacity for formal education. I couldn’t share that passion with my parents, friends, nobody. So I found my way into Yabatech, I made sure I didn’t pass Jamb to get into medicine, I told my dad I wanted to take poly jamb, he thought I would study science lab and tech but I filled fashion and that was how I got to fashion school. My family and teachers could not understand it.
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ejiro Amos Tafiri Designs fr
EJIRO AMOS TAFIRI
What has been the highest and lowest point of your career including raising the initial capital for the business? For me, I don’t have a particular highest or lowest point, every day comes with its own challenges for the business, being able to overcome it is key.
Were you able to access funding for your business? This business has been solely funded by me, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, finishing school at one point was challenging, my dad had to stop at one point, so I had to start working as a student, I would sew after classes and deliver them. Even when I left where I was working to start up my own, all I had in my account was N40,000. I bought a sewing machine, remodelled my room, and started making dresses deliver to people. I also spoke with friends who had boutiques, and they were willing to stock my designs in their shop, and the business grew from there. What inspires your design? Culture, imagination, literature, travel, I study people and how they are upwardly mobile, there is a lot of African cultures infused in the brand. Which of your achievements are you most proud of? I am proud of all my achievements but my most recent one which I am also very proud of was winning the best fashion designer for fashion and retail last year at the LFDW, each year comes with its own experience, which is different.
rom Runway to Real life
The fashion industry is known to be notoriously fickle and populated with shallow people…I know you are not one of those people but how do you maintain balance and stay true to yourself and your work? Yes, there are many of them in this industry, and there is little being done about copyright in Nigeria. Another challenge with fashion is that you can pirate a designer’s work, alter the style a little bit, and then pass it off as your own. But the film industry is doing better at fighting piracy. With Ejiro Amos Tafiri brand, staying true to work means it is so unique that like every other artwork, you have your personal signature. People just know the way we like to finish or present clothes, once you spot an Ejiro Amos Tafiri, you know that is what it is. Many fashion design businesses collapse once the owner dies, how do you intend to evolve? Fashion is a “world” business, if I might put it that way, one needs to evolve to stay relevant. I want my business to grow to over a hundred years, so my children can inherit it or I can sell it off at one point, I don’t want a business that revolves around me, it takes a lot to build. Right now, I am formulating a lot of policies and also putting processes in place. I want my business to grow like a proper business, it takes time right now we are about 25, staff and we want to grow beyond that. So it is not revolving around me at the moment, on our tee shirt it says team Ejiro Amos Tafiri, I am here, those at the factory are working, I am here and the other shops are also working. I also intend to put more structure into the business. What are the challenges you face in running a business like this especially in a country like Nigeria? Lack of infrastructure, lack of skilled labour, and when you eventually find skilled labour it is expensive; they are paid above high industry standards, accessing finance, lack of constant power supply, these challenges have been there for years, and they are still here.
The textile industry in Nigeria is comatose, what are the challenges getting fabrics for your business? We have challenges getting fabrics. Most of the fabrics we use in Nigeria are imported. The fashion industry all of a sudden grew faster than the textile industry. The textile industry was booming before, but after a while, it gave in to competition from neighbouring countries. Foreign fabrics that came in were cheaper, and Nigerians were not buying made in Nigeria fabrics, so it must have been difficult for textile industries in Nigeria to survive because they would rather buy ankara from Cote d’Ivoire than buy a made in Nigeria Ankara. Some of the textile companies had to ship their fabrics to neighboring countries, and then ship it in as made from those countries to get patronage, the textile industries had to struggle with the way Nigerians think, and eventually the industry collapsed. Now that Nigerians have evolved in their thinking and we now patronize Nigerian goods, I really hope the textile industry grow and catches up with us. Because now we are importing so much fabric from China, India, and all the foreign countries are cashing in on it. We do have our own local fabrics that are doing well, we just need more industrialization so that we can produce in large quantities; produce more adire, aso-oke, tie and dye, batik and all and even if we want to retain them as handmade fabrics, we can also do oil based instead of shipping it in container load of fabrics every time. It would be nice to see the textile industry catch up with the fashion industry, supply our needs so they can relieve the Nigerian situation. How would you measure the impact of the fashion week and the likes to the growth of the fashion industry? Fashion week helps you position your brand. It also documents your history. We did not use to have records of works done. But today, it is being documented and people all around the world can see it. More people around the world are wearing African designs unlike before. Should we expect something new from Ejiro Amos Tafiri? We are starting an academy soon because I constantly get a lot of requests to train. My factory can only take so many. So the training school should start before the end of this month. We also have our regular new collections. What would you say to aspiring young female entrepreneurs? The perfect time to start is now
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MUSIC SPLASH FELABRATION 2017 Felabration 2017 THE annual felabration music festival which celebrates the life and times of the late Afro-beat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, came to an end at about 6am on Monday, October 6, 2017, at the New Afrika Shrine, Ikeja, Lagos, The New Afrika Shrine is run by Femi Kuti and Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti, the New Afrika Shrine was built after their father’s original venue was burnt down in 1977. The festival is hosted here annually. This year’s festival had stellar musical performances from Ycee, Dice Ailes, Dotman, Choc City’s Ckay, South African singing group, Souti Sol, Junior Boy, Oritsefemi, Adewale Ayuba, Burna Boy, L.A.X, rave of the moment, Wizkid among many other artistes who graced the legendary stage. The yearly music festival which stretched a week long had an array of artistes such as Simi, Omawumi, Aramide, Praiz, Seun Kuti, Maka, Black Magic, Pepenazi, Femi Kuti, and many others who graced the stage on different days. The atmosphere of the grand finale was a night of ground breaking record; the ambience was reminiscent of great expectations and frenzied excitement from fans and music lovers who thronged both in and out of the New Afrika Shrine. Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, made a surprise cameo appearance on stage, lauding the late Afro-beat maestro for fighting with his life to give Nigerians a better life. First of A’list artistes to set the ball rolling was Tinny Entertainment rapper, Ycee, who did so without disappointing his fans. He thrilled his fans to his hit songs Juice, Jagaban amongst others. Choc City’s Ckay, Dice Ailes also didn’t fail to impress their few fans. Fela Kuti With an impressive live band, South African music group, Souti Sol, took the crowd on a smooth musical ride of indigenous songs, with a blend of refined beats that sent the crowd into ecstatic excitement as they sang along. The crowd screamed with uncontrollable excitement when they performed 2baba’s ‘Oya come make we go’. In what could be described as “mad joy”, self acclaimed musical taliban, Oritsefemi, plunged music lovers into a pool of excitement when he stormed the stage in the company of two curvaceously endowed dancers who brought a lot of sensuality on stage. Wizkid’s arrived as the taliban serenaded his fans with songs like koboko, double wahala, igbeyawo among others, they twerked their big butts to the excitement of guys who drooled, hoping to have a taste of their junk in the trunk. Wizkid’s arrival at the Afrika Shrine was epic. Upon arrival in the company of his crew which included his security detail, personal bouncer and manager, Sunday Are, there was a mad stampede both inside and outside the Shrine as everyone struggled to catch a glimpse of the Ojuelegba crooner who has been described as a musical demi-god. It took the joint effort of his crew, manager, personal bouncer, mobile police, NSCDC agents and security agents attached to the Shrine to put the crowd at bay. Heavily guarded, he was able to waltz backstage to join other artistes in preparation for his stage craft. On discovery that the crowd was distracted by Wizkid’s arrival, Oritsefemi seized the opportunity to sneak out as the crowd concentrated on the Jaiye Jaiye singer. At about 1:15am, Femi Kuti and his Positive Force band took to the stage and in his usual fashion, he took Afro-beat lovers on a rollercoaster ride of pleasant surprises. He repeated history when he played one single note on his Saxophone for a long period of time. He thrilled with his evergreen songs; ‘sorry sorry’, ‘truth don die’, and many others to the admiration of the crowd. Shortly after, controversial singer, Burna Boy, graced the stage to the jubilation of his fans. After performing some of his hit songs, he begged the crowd to allow him go but they refused urging him on because they loved his stage craft. At a point, the crowd took over his performance as they sang along, word for word, without instrumentals to the admiration of Burna who just looked on with joy. After doing an acapella of his Yawa song, he stormed off the stage to the disapproval of his fans. With exaggerated hype, fireworks and good instrumentals to herald his stage entrance, man of the night, Wizkid, majestically sauntered in while the crowd roared in jubilation. He surprised everyone when he took to the stage. Due to suspicions of frail health there were spurious speculations that he may just perform for a few minutes, but unexpectedly, the Star Boy performed for more than 30-minutes to the surprise of everyone. He took the audience on a musical ride of his songs. One love, Ojuelegba, Jaiye Jaiye, alongside Femi Kuti, Soweto Baby, One Dance, etc. his performance was the cynosure of the night; everyone, including the organizers, security officials, and even hawkers, made frantic effort to catch a glimpse of his stage craft. Bonsue crooner, Adewale Ayuba, got the entire crowd dancing with excitement when he graced the stage. With his all male live band, he was able to maintain the tempo Wizkid ignited. L.A.X and Tekno also didn’t disappoint their fans..
Fela wizkid performing
Femi kuti
Ortise Femi
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MUSICIPS Snoop Dogg to drop Gospel Album soon Snoop Dogg Debuts Gospel Project Featuring Fred Hammond. Snoop Dogg is giving the world a glimpse of his gospel music album, which already features a famous voice in gospel music, Fred Hammond. The rap mogul, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr., took to Instagram to preview his gospel project Bible of Love for fans. In the preview video clip, Hammond’s signature voice can be heard praising God. “He did it for me he’ll do it for you, same God,” Hammond croons in the audio track that Snoop can be seen lip syncing to. The 45-year-old hip hop veteran announced that he would create a gospel album earlier in an interview with Beats 1 Radio. “I’m working on a gospel album. It’s always been on my heart,” he said. “I just never got around to it because I always be doing gangsta business and doing this and doing that. But I just feel like it’s been on my heart too long.” The rapper hailing from Long Beach, California, had already given fans a glimpse of what his gospel music may sound like. Last year, he turned Pastor Shirley Caesar’s 1988 song “Hold My Mule” into a holiday song called “U Name It Holiday Anthem.”
Peter Okoye splits from Psquare, goes solo solo Nigerian Hip-hop twins, Peter and Paul Okoye of the popular stage name Psquare,that dominated the Nigerian music industry for many years, have finally split up. According to a letter sent to their lawyer Festus Keyamo (SAN) by Peter, he demanded for a termination of the agreement as a group. According to the copy of a letter in some media outlets on Monday, Peter based his decision on some serious allegations against his twin Paul and Jude their older brother and manager. He accused Paul of no longer willing to co- operate with him, and even gone as far as cancelling their scheduled music tour to the United States. He added that Paul was also slandering his wife and children with lies on social media, and alleged that his family was being threatened with threat messages. Peter further accused his older brother Jude of once threatening to kill him and shoot his wife Lola. Peter stressed that he was tired of the “drama” and all he wanted was opting out of the Psquare group and contract. Social media was set on fire after Peter posted a Snapchat video revealing that he is in Philadelphia on his own for a solo show – without his twin brother, Paul. “My name is Mr P,” Peter said “As from today, guess what? It’s show time, I’m about to go on stage.” This post came days after his brother, Paul wrote on instagram saying; “Only a woman can come where there’s peace and destroy it”. The Okoye brothers have been engulfed in war of words on the social media in recent times, and this development has confirmed rumours that there have been strains in their relationship.
Check out new photos of Wizkid’s son, Boluwatife Starboy Wizkid’s son, Boluwatife Balogun is fast becoming a big boy and true pride of his parents. He is five years old and the splitting image of his dad. Just few days ago, his mother, Shola was in the news following rumours that she was engaged when she shared a photo of her wearing a diamond ring with the caption ”Yes”. However, Shola took to Twitter denying the claims, deleting the pictures
If I’ll remarry, it would be to an Igbo man – Lolo 1 of Wazobia Nigeria’s Lolo 1 – the madam who is the face of Wazobia FM’s ‘Oga Madam’ radio programme, was born Omotunde Adebowale David. She has over the years, excelled as one of the country’s best comediennes – on air, on stage and on the silver screen. In a recent interview with ThisDay, Lolo talks about plans to remarry, her failed marriage, children and lots more. On her family, the plus size silver screen diva, revealed she has four adorable kids with her estranged husband before their union met with brick walls. “I have four amazing kids. I have three sons and a daughter. I am single. I met a lot of people saying, ‘Oh my God, this entertainer is divorced.’ Yes, my divorce is a mutual thing. It’s nothing to fight or quarrel about. My family life is private. I will not drag the father of my children on the pages of newspapers. He doesn’t deserve that. It’s not a quarrel; we might have issues that we are dealing with personally as people. But it doesn’t mean that we now have to go and talk about each other (in the public). He’s the father of my children. I respect him for that. It is an important reason we do not talk about it (divorce) on the pages of newspapers.” When asked about plans to remarry, Lolo said, if she would remarry, she’ll go for an Igbo man. “Well, yes, but it doesn’t matter where anybody comes from. I gravitate towards an individual. It’s who you are as a person that matters. It’s not where you come from. So, I’m not looking at anybody based on tribe even though it’s not like I’m shopping. I’ll leave that in God’s hands. You know, if you’ve gone through a situation and you didn’t do well, I think it’s time to withdraw into myself – learn a few things about why this (the marriage) didn’t work and what I did wrong. So when I’ve learnt my lesson and healed internally, then maybe I will consider it. It takes time for one to be able to go through it (divorce). Marriage is not a walk in the park like people think. It’s something one signs up for forever and one has a break. That shows one didn’t do some things right. So, as an individual, one needs to get internal healing and work on one’s own personality, so that when one gets into another relationship, one would have learnt her lessons from the previous marriage.” Wondering if there are chances for reconciliation with her ex, Lolo didn’t rule that totally out, she said: “Oh well, I’m not God. Everybody is a work in progress. It’s just that people in the media judge very harshly; because we live our life before people. But I’ve done my best to make it (failed marriage) work and I don’t make it a general topic. It’s a family issue. We’re dealing with it our own way. 34
MOVIE MANIA MOVIES IN THE CINEMA BODY LANGUAGE Synopsis: - A mysterious stranger comes into a tripper’s life at the same time a serial killer Murders ladies across town. Mere coincidence or minous design of fate? Running time: 90mins Genre: rama/ thriller Release date: 20th Oct, 2017
SECRET SUPER STAR SYNOPSIS: The film revolves around the life of a Child who aspires to be a singer. CASTS: Zaira asim, Meher Vij, Raj Arjun GENRE: Drama, Music UNNING TIME: 155MINS RELEASE DATE: 20TH CT. 2017 E XCESS LUGGAGE SYNOPSIS: An illiterate village man with his family are headed to a church summit but their car breaks own, they have no choice but to stay with an unlikely and unfriendly but wealthy/sophisticated family member; with the comfort they experience, wsill they ever leave their family member’s home Happy Death Day SYNOPSIS: A college student relives the day of her murder with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end until she discovers her killer’s identity. casts: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine elease date: 20th Oct, 2017 Genre: Horror, mystery thriller Thor: Ragnarok SYNOPSIS: Imprisoned, the mighty Thor finds himself in a lethal gladiatorial contest against the ulk, his former ally. Thor must fight for survival and race against time to prevent the all-powerful ela from destroying his home and the Asgardian ivilization. CASTS: CHRIS HEMSWORTH, TOM IDDLESTON, CATE BALNCHETT GENRE: Action, dventure, FERDINARD SYNOPSIS: FERDINAND tells the story of a giant bull with a big heart. After being mistaken for a dangerous beast, he is captured and torn from his home. Determined to return to his family, he rallies a m ADDINGTON 2 YNOPSIS: Paddington undertakes a number of odd obs to afford a unique pop-up book from an antique ook shop - a present for Aunt Lucy on her 100th irthday. But when the book is stolen, it’s up FUN MOM DINNER SYNOPSIS: Four moms whose only common ground Is their kids’ preschool class, decide to get together or a harmless “fun mom dinner.” CASTS: KATIE SELTON, TONI COLLETT, BRIDGET EVERETT ENRE: COMEDY
Black Panther Synopsis T’Challa, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, echnologically advanced African nation to succeed the throne and take his rightful place as king. Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, ichael P. Jordan, Martin Freeman
Golmaal Again SYNOPSIS: Golmaal Again is yet another fun filled ide about two gangs who are unable to stand each ther since their childhood and how they repulse ach other even after they grow up. It is yet another ilarious adventure with its fair share of thrills that re sure to surprise
GEOSTORM Synopsis After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world’s leaders came together to create an intricate network of Satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong: the system built to protect Earth is attacking it, COCO SYNOPSIS: Aspiring musician Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) teams up with charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael García ernal) on an extraordinary journey through the Land f the Dead. CAST: ALANNA UBACH, EDWARD AMES OLUOS GENRE: Animation, Adventure, omedy RELEASE DATE: 24TH NOV, 2017 THE GREATEST SHOWMAN SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the imagination of P.T. arnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business & tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. ELEASE DATE: 29TH DEC, 2017 CASTS: Hugh ackman, Zac Efron
PADDINGTON 2 YNOPSIS: Paddington undertakes a number of odd obs to afford a unique pop-up book from an antique ook shop - a present for Aunt Lucy on her 100th irthday. But when the book is stolen, it’s up to addington and the Browns to find the thief. CASTS: Hugh Grant, Brendon HE FOREIGNER YNOPSIS: A humble businessman with a buried ast seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an ct of terrorism. A cat-and-mouse conflict ensues ith a government official, whose past may hold lues to the killers’ identities. CAST: Jackie Chan, ierce Brosnan, Charlie Murphy GENRE: Action,
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ENVOGUE FEATURES
GIRLS >>>>>> NOT WIVES
FEATURING WADI BEN HIRKI OF WADIBENHIRKI FOUNDATION T
o some, dedication towards a course might seem a major huddle to scale but to WADI BEN- HIRKI this comes naturally. As a devoted humanitarian, this young lady has touched so many lives in Nigeria through the Wadi Ben-Hirki Foundation established to cater for the less- privileged, disabled and victimized children in the society. Wadi is a selfless, unassuming, affable and outspoken young lady with a heart of gold. Her vision to create a platform to support the less privileged is not only limited to Nigeria but by extension Africa and ultimately globally. According to her, she is on a mission to ensure that ‘’children in the society are given opportunities to go to school and also have the basic things needed to survive such as: food, shelter, clothing, good health care among others’’ . Some of the projects created by her foundation includes: #Street2School, #GirlsNotWives and #LITMOW (Love In The Midst Of War.) Like every other visioner, Wadi has her fair share of challenges like insufficient funding that limits the effectiveness of campaigns run by her and her team. Also access to victims living in areas affected by terrorist is another limitation.
Despite this, Wadi is very focused and determined and so far her foundation has touched over 500 lives. Due to her activities, Wadi has earned awards and recognition some of which includes; Nigerian Teen Choice Awards: Choice Philanthropist of the Year (2015 & 2016), Covenant University humanitarian of the year 2016 among others. In August 2016, she was selected to participate in the African Union Regional Youth Consultation on human rights. Wadi is also a member of the Association of Women’s Rights in Development. . She is a graduate of Accounting from Covenant University Nigeria She sat down with ENVOGUE Magazine to talk about her NGO and other problems faced by the girl child.
“A nation which seeks to better its future must invest in the children which will lead it to its future” Wadi Ben Hirki
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Can we meet you? I am 20 years old. I was born on the 29th of January, 1997 in Lagos State. I am a graduate of Covenant University. I am the Founder of Wadi Ben-Hirki Foundation and SHEROES by WBH. I am also the CEO of Sapphire by WBHF, a start-up business. I am from Adamawa State but I live in Kaduna State. I am a Christian and a Nigerian. Tell us about your growing up? I grew up in Kaduna State. I attended IVY Nursery and Primary school. My childhood was fun and amazing although I had some sad experiences which I am grateful for because they have strengthened me and made me more resilient. I attended Zamani College Kaduna. Growing up has been a wonderful journey for me. I have made mistakes, learned and unlearned. I have also been able to make tangible impact and inspire other young people in my community and beyond. What inspired you to start an NGO? Seeing people suffer and go through hardship is my weak point. Helping to make the World a better and more sustainable place is what inspired me to start an NGO How has it been from when you started till now? It has been challenging but nothing good comes easy. It has also been an amazing experience for me because through my NGO, hundreds of lives have been made better. How are NGOs perceived in Nigeria? NGOs are generally perceived as Organizations that are hungry for money. Others perceive us as Organizations that raise money for selfish reasons. Yes, there are bad eggs but we are not all the same. Have you been able to touch lives through this NGO? Yes, I have. Hundreds of lives have been touched through my NGO What do you think is the practical solution to the problem of child marriages in Nigeria. How can it be stopped completely? It may not be stopped completely but it can be drastically reduced. Education of the masses is a major way we can help reduce child marriages. Providing platforms where girls can learn is also another way. Lastly, amendment of the Constitution. What do you also think is the thing Government and individuals cando to get Children off the streets? Treating every child as your own is a major way children can be taken off the streets and given better lives. Ensuring that funds meant for the well-being of children especially the disadvantaged ones are used for them is also another way to get children off the streets There was a time the National Assembly wanted to pass a Bill that would prevent child marriages in Nigeria but it didn’t go through.. What do you think about it? I am unhappy about that and I feel it is selfish of them. Young children shouldn’t be forced into marriage as they are not physically, emotionally and psychologically mature enough What challenges do you face as an NGO in Nigeria? Limited funds and publicity are major challenges I face as an NGO in Nigeria Any Advice to parents and young people like you out there? To the parents, I’d say they should support their children’s dreams and let their children bring out the best in themselves. Don’t create the pathway for your child. Be a guide and encourage your child. Dear young people, success is not easy but it is possible. Dare to do! With God, hard work, focus and consistency, anything is achievable What is your inspirational quote? Your challenges shouldn’t define you. They should refine you. You are stronger than we think you are. Tell us about your personality and style and what you are loving right now? I am easy going but I can also be withdrawn. I love watching documentaries about successful people because they motivate me to do more and remind me that anything I set my heart to do is possible. I love adventure! I am loving the steady growth of my passion and career right now Can you be reached, Social media and all. Are sponsors also welcome? Yes I can Website: http://wbhfoundation.org/ Twitter: @saphtoria @WBHFoundation @SapphirebyWBHF Instagram: @saphtoria @wadibenhirkifoundation @sapphirebywbhf Facebook: Wadi Benhirki & Wadi Ben-Hirki Foundation Yes, sponsors are very much welcome
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Wadi wears a traditional Fulani dress in these photos, representing her state of origin in Adamawa State Nigeria.
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Malala’s speech to the UN Youth Takeover by Malala Yousafzai “Dear brothers and sisters, do remember one thing. Malala day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights.” Their right to live in peace. Their right to be treated with dignity. Their right to equality of opportunity. Their right to be educated.
Dear Friends, on the 9th of October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came, thousands of voices. The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born. I am the same Malala. My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My dreams are the same. Dear sisters and brothers, I am not against anyone. Neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorists group. I am here to speak up for the right of education of every child. I want education for the sons and the daughters of all the extremists especially the Taliban. I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me. I would not shoot him. This is the compassion that I have learnt from Muhammad-the prophet of mercy, Jesus christ and Lord Buddha. This is the legacy of change that I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This is the philosophy of non-violence that I have learnt from Gandhi Jee, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa. And this is the forgiveness that I have learnt from my mother and father. This is what my soul is telling me, be peaceful and love everyone. Dear sisters and brothers, we realise the importance of light when we see darkness. We realise the importance of our voice when we are silenced. In the same way, when we were in Swat, the north of Pakistan, we realised the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns. The wise saying, “The pen is mightier than sword” was true. The extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them. And that is why they killed 14 innocent medical students in an attack in Quetta. And that is why they killed many female teachers and polio workers in Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa and FATA. That is why they are blasting schools every day. Because they were and they are afraid of change, afraid of the equality that we will bring into our society.
I remember that there was a boy in our school who was asked by a journalist, “Why are the Taliban against education?” He answered very simply. By pointing to his book he said, “A Talib doesn’t know what is written inside this book.” They think that God is a tiny, little conservative being who would send girls to the hell just because of going to school. The terrorists are misusing the name of Islam and Pashtun society for their own personal benefits. Pakistan is peace-loving democratic country. Pashtuns want education for their daughters and sons. And Islam is a religion of peace, humanity and brotherhood. Islam says that it is not only each child’s right to get education, rather it is their duty and responsibility. Honourable Secretary General, peace is necessary for education. In many parts of the world especially Pakistan and Afghanistan; terrorism, wars and conflicts stop children to go to their schools. We are really tired of these wars. Women and children are suffering in many parts of the world in many ways. In India, innocent and poor children are victims of child labour. Many schools have been destroyed in Nigeria. People in Afghanistan have been affected by the hurdles of extremism for decades. Young girls have to do domestic child labour and are forced to get married at early age. Poverty, ignorance, injustice, racism and the deprivation of basic rights are the main problems faced by both men and women. Dear fellows, today I am focusing on women’s rights and girls’ education because they are suffering the most. There was a time when women social activists asked men to stand up for their rights. But, this time, we will do it by ourselves. I am not telling men to step away from speaking for women’s rights rather I am focusing on women to be independent to fight for themselves. Dear sisters and brothers, now it’s time to speak up. So today, we call upon the world leaders to change their strategic policies in favour of peace and prosperity. Dear brothers and sisters, we want schools and education for every child’s bright future. We will continue our journey to our destination of peace and education for everyone. No one can stop us. We will speak for our rights and we will bring change through our voice. We must believe in the power and the strength of our words. Our words can change the world. Because we are all together, united for the cause of education. And if we want to achieve our goal, then let us empower ourselves with the weapon of knowledge and let us shield ourselves with unity and togetherness. Dear brothers and sisters, we must not forget that millions of people are suffering from poverty, injustice and ignorance. We must not forget that millions of children are out of schools. We must not forget that our sisters and brothers are waiting for a bright peaceful future. So let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education First.
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Ladunni Lambo Spring/ Summer 2018 collection titled St*r
Womenswear brand Ladunni Lambo has released it Spring/ Summer 2018 collection titled St*r inspired by Princess Lalla Nouzha of Morocco and the Nomadic culture of her people. The juxtaposition of the two concepts that inspired the collection can be reflected in the opulent yet austere pieces in the lookbook featuring delicately crafted feminine fabrics and simple colors. Check out the lookbook \\\\\\\\\Credits Brand: Ladunni Lambo | @ladunnilambo Photography : Sope Johnson | @michaelsopejohnson Creative Direction and Styling : Ladunni Lambo Model: Erezi | @erezi.erezi
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NACK Apparel Drops ‘The Lookman Campaign Campaign’ NACK Apparel returns with ‘The Lookman Campaign’. The campaign depicts the style, freedom, and confidence of ever NACK man and woman. According to the brand, the pieces in this campaign are inspired by a man identified as Lookman Falade, a fisherman located in South- Western Nigeria, with an unrelenting and unapologetic nature; his style, freedom, and confidence can be referred to as a new Nigerian culture.
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Emerging womenswear brand, Bibi Lawrence, comes through with its Spring/Summer 2018 collection tagged ‘The Belle’- a beautiful girl or woman, specifically the most beautiful at a particular event or in a particular group. Every woman deserves to be the belle of the ball. This simple idea inspired the creation of every outfit in this collection.
Bibi Lawrence Spring/Summer 2018 Collection
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Reves Clothing ‘Rempli Collection
Reves Clothing Company has released its Spring/ Summer 2018 collection tagged ‘Rempli’. The collection reflects very distinct aesthetic characters to set gentlemen apart stylishly. Reves wants every man to rock clothes that truly express individuality and identity.
Kimono ‘AbebiByTan’
Media personality, Seyitan Atigarin, has launched her own line of Kimonos called ‘AbebiByTan’.From The Adventures of TASA, Seyitan is now taking fashion by storm. Her debut collection was created as the perfect wardrobe staple for every woman seeking comfort and style. The kimonos come in different colorways, prints, lengths, and variations and instantly dresses up your look from day to night or a dramatic bikini cover-up to a throw-on for a little Black Dress
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GLITZ AFRICA FASHION WEEK 2017 #GAFW2017 The Glitz Africa Fashion and Design week held in Ghana from the 11th to 13th October 2017 with alot of showcase form fashion designers all over Africa. These are some of the designers that stood out during the event
AFRO . MOD . TRE NDS: GLITZ AFRICA FASHION WEEK 2017
ATTO TETTEH: GLITZ AFRICA FASHION WEEK 2017
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ABRANTIE THE GENTLEMAN COLLECTION
BOSI AND CHARLES: GLITZ FASHION WEEK 2017
ROIS AND REINE: GLITZ AFRICA FASHION WEEK 2017
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The About That Curvy Life Collective Runway Presentation at GLITZ Africa Fashion Week Last year, the Heineken Lagos Fashion and design week took a new turn as the ATCL collective brought a breath of fresh air to the runway. This year, the collective has gone a step further taking the plus fashion world by storm in Ghana for one of the top fashion weeks in Africa, GLITZ Africa Fashion week. The collective show which was initiated and executed by media personality/Founder of Aboutthatcurvylife.com Latasha Ngwube, brought together two strong womenswear designers and one male designer into one powerful loop. The presentation was opened by Nori Clothing, in-between came menswear brand, Assian and Abaya Lagos by Salihat wrapped up the collective.
Nori Clothings Nori Clothings opened the #AboutThatCurvyLife Collective presentation delivering pieces that were made from finely tailored silk and satin laced with fine feathery options. The pieces from her collection served class and style as all the models were seen strutting down the runway wearing sleek high buns, looking bold and beautiful. The first piece by Nori Clothings was an ankle length orange dress with a boat neck style laced with feathery attachments and pockets right in front of the hips. There was also a laced inner knee-length dress draped with an orange belted kimono. The final piece came on strong with a long sleeved sheen length dress with beaded accessories.
ASSIAN The Menswear designer on the collective was brought together with a cool unified theme of Orange, pink and yellow. The collection also spotted a denim shirt, monochrome stripes and bubble-like design. As the chunky males took to the runway, the white symbolic stripes on their faces made them stand out signifying a roaring strength for the plus male fashion stage. Each model wore sneakers of different colours and patterns from Nodrog St,- an accessories line also by Assian’s Creative Director- Matthew Gordon. Bowler bags and folios in sharp colours of yellow, wine and purple co-ordinated with their clothes. There was a pink long sleeved shirt with bubble designs and matching shorts with a green folio finely contrasting the outfit, a monochrome striped shirt with bold yellow trousers and a wine folio to match the wine colored breast pocket. There was also a pink long sleeve shirt with plane brown shorts.
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Abaya Lagos by Salihat closed the show with their Gold themed expressive collection. The pieces were a mix of chick, classy and casual with models strutting the runway in turban head gears and dashing bold red lipsticks. The collection showcased pieces like a black gown with beaded accessories on the elbow length sleeve and pockets on the side, a Gold satin dress draped with a sequin kimono. There was also beautiful green knee length dress with a V-neck and large embroidered pockets coordinating with the yellow head gear worn by the model.
Latasha Nguwbe, Founder of aboutthatcurvylife. com
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SHOEGASM
#envoguefshion spotted these cool shoes on @shoezonegh. They are really cool.
How about a bliged out shoe, well Nikki Minaj rocked these at the Newyork Fashion week. Love the Blings!
These Christian Louboutin Classique Escarpic 100 Spike Suede Pumps #envoguefashion spotted at @chicamastyle and available at aldoshoes.com
Malone Souliers designed this rose shoes and it is part of her 2017 collection. @malonesouliers
spotted this pure leather heels and bag at aldoshoes.com.
@theadeolacrown wearing these really high shoes. #envoguefashion spotted these and its something you can try.
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Put your businesses in this section for a token. Send an email to envoguemagazine93@gmail.com or on instagram @envogue_magazine
Credits @chicamastyle.com
WHERE TO SHOP ONLINE
Venus dress Fall wedding guest dresses are commonly comprised of cool heavy Olive green tend to be one of the most fabrics, rich bold jewelries and timeless pieces and most versatile in my wardrobe as of now. It has grounded it-self beautiful color tones. This buras a long lasting color when one wants to gundy dress is a jaw dropper feel cool and classy. This gorgeous dress and it is accentuated with frill has a beautiful rose embedded on it, which ruffles which are layered to brings out the off shoulder details on the give the dress lots of volume. I dress. The dress gives an hourglass fit on added gold accessories to give the body and it is ideal for any beautiful the dress a more lavish look. Dress from www.snazzyoccasion. clozet.com/?product=vedress by heavenlyritzboutique.com nus-dress$149.99 shoesby christian Loubotin Hair by http://www.kloehairdesigners.com
Kerry Washington Dress @dolcegabbana Shoes @paulandrew
MS EMPHASIZED Purple is commonly worn PINK DRESS $89.99 during the fall season. This USD Christian lobotin This ruffle dress would definitely cause a stir as dress is so elegant and at the shoes same time sophisticated. I Gorgeous purple dress soon as you walk into any occasion. The exaggerpaired it with an old belt and from slaytique.com ated ruffled sleeves gives vintage hat which i believe the dress much lift. The conceals the look. structure of the dress is Shoes are Christian Loubouform fit which gives that tin Classique Escarpic 100 signature hugging feel Spike Suede Pumps and molds the body into CHARLOTTE BEAUTY an hourglass. GOWN $135.99 USD Dress- Soniaskloset.com Five-layered coil-style choker shoes- christian loubotin necklace $31.99 divabby.com Clutch from aldoshoes.com
@fellamakafui Wearing a flowery number from @ thelushcloset_
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BRIDEZILLA
YOMI CASUAL’S STAR STUDDED WEDDING
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LAGOS DESIGNER, YOMI CASUAL & FIANCEE, GRACE STAR STUDDED WEDDING His name is Olorunyomi Omoniyi Makun, but that might not strike an immediate chord. Rather, his brand name, Yomi Casual, rings a much louder bell than his birth name. And this is quite understandable. After having spent about a decade in the fashion industry, Yomi Casual has risen to become one of the popular and respected Nigerian designers whose works have earned him accolades and huge patronage from the very rich and distinguished stylish Naija men. Yomi Casual specializes only in Africa traditional wears and his bold and contemporary designs have given him distinct identity that stands him out from the rest of the pack. Born and raised in Warri, Delta state, alongside his more popular comedian elder brother, AY, (but they actually hail from Ondo state) Yomi, over the years has engaged the services of celebrity models like Desmond Elliot, Zack Orji, Uti Nwachukwu, Alex Ekubo, Iyanya, Ebube Nwagbo, AY, Sammie Okposo and several others who have helped project the brand and turned it into a celebrity brand. His clientele base consists largely of politicians, captains of industries, businessmen, etc. Yomi was in the news when he proposed to his very young an pretty fiancee, Grace Onuoha at an event held in Lagos. His partner, who clearly had no inkling what was in store for her was visibly shocked and soon became emotional a she let the tears out when she saw her sweetheart down on one knee in front of the crowd with a beautiful ring in his hand, asking that question every woman longs to hear, ‘will you marry me?’ The entire hall erupted in cheers and excitement as the extremely shy and overjoyed Grace nodded and said ‘yes.’ They later had the family introduction ceremony last month while the wedding is holding this October. How did you guys meet? I met her about seven years ago at a friend’s party. She was at the party with her elder sister. I was just chilling with some friends when I saw this very beautiful girl wearing a suit at the party and I was impressed. She looked different from the other ladies at the party and I was like this is the kind of girl I would like to meet. A lot of my friends had gone to meet her and she was turning everybody down, and then I said, okay, let me go and try my own luck with her. I approached her like a gentleman and we started conversing. And the rest is history. What was the attraction, apart from the fact she looked beautiful? Like I said, it was the way she dressed. I know the way girls dress to parties, but her dressing was very decent. For a pretty girl in Lagos, I was like, this is not possible, I need to know you. Where’s she from? Tell us a bit about her, her full names.. She’s from Abia State, Ohafia to be precise. Her name is Grace Onuoha. How did her parents accept the fact th their daughter was bringing home somebody who’s not anywhere from their tribe, how did they accept you? I think that, if you have noticed, people are beginning to accept and encourage their children to marry from other tribe especially Igbo and Yoruba. A lot of Igbo girls, if you ask them, they’ll tell you I will like to get married to a Yoruba boy, same with Yoruba guys, they like Igbo girls. So, I think the combination is okay. And her parents are very educated and civilized, they are not the type that will insist that the guy must be from their tribe so long as the guy is okay and he’s ready to take care of you and I’m sure that they’re more than convinced about that already.
HAPPY MARRIED LIFE
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BRIDAL INSPIRATION Amazing Bridal Inspiration from @Bridalcouture and @Bridalinspirationng on options for the wedding gown. Is there a rule that a wedding gown must be white in colour, how about changing things up on your wedding day, adding some spice to the norm, these Bridal designs will give you an idea of Bridal trends for the unconventional bride.
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THE BRIDAL TRAIN When it comes to the Bridal train, it is a big part of any wedding as a wedding is never complete without the bridal train which includes the Best men, the Bridesmaids. What they will wear on the big day is the next after taking care of your wedding gowns and suit. The colours must cordinate with the theme of the wedding. Outdoor, Indoor, Underwater, cultural, court and so on. Get it right with these Bridal train inspirations.
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ENVOGUE WEDDINGS 5 Ways To Keep Guests Comfortable On Your Wedding Day
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eeping your guests comfortable might not be as difficult as you have imagined. You might want to invite a lot of people and would be apprehensive on how to render an impressive reception. Luckily for you, keeping your guests happy is super easy and it doesn’t have to involve hiring the priciest brand or serving up an extravagant meal. Here are five simple things you can do to ensure your friends and family also have the time of their lives as well as you on your big day. 1. Make arrangements for affordable accommodation: Because so many of the guests might be coming in to town and would definitely need a resting place, it won’t be a bad idea to offer to host them to stay in a family member’s house, your house or an affordable hotel with a discount. This would go a long way in the hearts of your guests and they would remember your kind gesture. 2. Feed them. The truth is even if you have to try not being extravagant, what you intend serving your guests on your wedding day matters a lot. Be aware of the type of guests who are going to be present and make provision for the kind of meal they are known to like. You can also provide pastries or snacks for the guests before the real meal is served so they do not get bored easily. Finally make sure that there is always enough food to go around, so nobody gets angry! However you might not be able to carry this out all by yourself since you are going to be the centre of attraction, so it is advisable to hire a renowned catering service or get someone who you can trust for efficiency when it comes to managing this occasion. 3. Protect them from the elements. Always consider the the weather and time of the year when choosing your wedding date. This would determine if the wedding would be indoor or outdoor. If you are keen on having your wedding outdoor, then be familiar with the wedding forecast for the day so that the elements do not surprise you. If possible make provision for shade and sunscreen to keep your guests comfortable in an outdoor wedding. 4. Make sure bathrooms are easily accessible. If you’re having a large wedding, a one-stall bathroom may not be the best choice for you or for your guests. You do not want to hear about an overflowing toilet on your wedding day so keep bathrooms in mind when selecting your venue and if there are no toilets in the venue you can consider bringing in temporary ones. 5. Make sure to send an invitation with the venue clearly stated If you’re not providing transportation for your guests, make sure you do share information with them on how they can get from their residences to your venue and back to their residences safely at the end of the night. Whether your send emails or send invitation cards on how to get to the destination of your wedding, you’ll have to make sure that your guests are able to find their way easily.
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AKIN FAMINU & TOSIN SHO- SILVA PAIRS UP FOR A BRIDAL SHOOT WITH A MODERN AND ROMANTIC TWIST. F
ashion bloggers Akin Faminu and Tosin Sho- Silva are changing the norm of wedding fashion with a new editorial titled Alta Moda. The Spanish words Alta Moda translates to High Fashion– The art of luxurious and regal style, and there are not many fashion scenes that express Alta Moda as much as the wedding fashion. Set amongst iconic and ornate interiors, the photo shoot captured by Mide Wey who was assisted by Tolu Emmy, is an ode to romance that stands the test of time, and definitely in style. The scenes depict opulence just as much as the outfits express class, and the styling emphasis is placed on timelessness. The dresses strike the perfect balance between elegant and edgy, and the tuxedos; sharp, dapper and intricately detailed. The vision for the editorial was to capture the beauty of fashion with a modern, romantic twist. The photos take you on a magnificent journey in Alta Moda style with a spectacular array of wedding inspired gowns and tuxedos along the way.
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With art direction from Saffysu, Gown from Rose Blossom Bridal Makari Wears (Gold tuxedo), ILI.official (Blue suit) Accessories were from Jumia. Society clothing (Silver tuxedo),
With art direction from Saffysu, Gown from Rose Blossom Bridal Makari Wears (Gold tuxedo), ILI.official (Blue suit) Accessories were from Jumia. Society clothing (Silver tuxedo),
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ENVOGUE TRAVEL Yankari Resort & Safari BAUCHI NIGERIA
BAUCHI STATE
Yankari Resort & Safari is a large wildlife park located in the south-central part of Bauchi State, in northeastern Nigeria. It covers an area of about 2,244 square kilometres (866 sq mi) and is home to several natural warm water springs, as well as a wide variety of flora and fauna. Its location in the heartland of the West African savanna makes it a unique way for tourists and holidaymakers to watch wildlife in its natural habitat. Yankari was originally created as a game reserve in 1956, but later designated Nigeria’s biggest national park in 1991. It is the most popular destination for tourists in Nigeria and, as such, plays a crucial role in the development and promotion of tourism and ecotourism in Nigeria. It is also one of the most popular eco- destinations in West Africa. Features Due to underground geothermal activity, Yankari National Park also features four warm water springs. The camp is named after the most well known of these, the Wikki Spring, from the local Duguri language with “Wikki” meaning “where are you?”. The Wikki Warm Spring is the largest spring and is about 13.0 metres wide and 1.9 metres deep. It daily flows 21,000,000 litres of clear, spring water into the Gaji river. The spring has a constant temperature of 31.1 °C through the year during both day and night and has been developed for recreation. The other warm water springs are Dimmil, Gwan, and Nawulgo springs. A fifth spring, Tungan Naliki, is the only cool spring in the park. The “Wikki Camp” is the tourist centre of the park. Located about 42 kilometres from the main entrance gate, the camp is built beside, and named after, the Wikki warm spring, which is open for swimming 24 hours a day. There are 110 furnished chalets with varying size and quality, ranging from the ‘’presidential’’ suites to the youth hostel, all of which are being upgraded in phases. The camp also provides a restaurant, bar and conference centre. Daily safari trips depart at least twice from the camp. The museum in the camp is well stocked with a variety of skins, tusks, bones and fully mounted stuffed game from the park. It is educational while also acting as a conservation centre, displaying hunting gear and traps taken from poachers.
Gate to the Yankari Resort and Safari
Resorts at the Yankari Games Reserve
Contact km-40 Bauchi-Gombe High Way Mainamaji Village, Bauchi +234 902 733 2226 yankarigamereserve@gmail.com Monday - Sunday 8:00AM -10:00Pm http://www.yankarigamereserve.com.ng Elephants at the Yankari Resort and Safari
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YANKARI ACCOMMODATION At Yankari Game Reserve there is the Wikki Resort Hotel That Provide accommodation options ranging from students hostel to presidential suite for your visiting confort. BOOK NOW From N2,500 / NIGHT Restuarant & Bar THE YANKARI RESTAURANT The Yankari Restaurant is an iconic restaurant at the heart of Yankari game reserve. You enjoy the finest and breath- taking view of the reserve. The Yankari Restaurant is located behind the business area of the reserve. We offer Local dishes, continental and international dishes for our visitor’s convenience. Snacks are also available at the restaurant. Opens For: Breakfast: 7am-11am Lunch: 12pm – 3pm Dinner: 6pm -11pm Yankari Bar opens daily: 2.00pm-12.00am Meetings & Events Hold your business meeting or special event at the Yankari game reserve and enjoy exceptional meeting facilities in a prime location. Our attentive staff is ideally-equipped to meet every one of your unique needs. We also offer premier catering services and special group room rates to help you get the most value from your stay at one of the African’s top game reserve. The perfect venue for business meetings, corporate events, weddings, parties, reunions and other special gatherings, Yankari game reserve has everything you need to create an event you’ll remember for all the right reasons. Contact our reservation office on (+234) 803 321 4203 to begin planning your meeting or event. Catering services for external venues offered
The warm springs at the Yankari Resort and Safari is one of the attractions of the resort. The spring has a constant temperature of 31.1 °C through the year during both day and night and has been developed for recreation. The Wikki warm spring is open for swimming 24 hours a day. Professional Photographer @kurengworkx paired with model Shima Abraham and @makeupbyjaru to do an underwater photoshoot at the Yankari Resort and Safari to show how clean and pure the warm springs at the resort are. The pictures truely showed the springs in its essence and it is definitely a place worth visiting. See the underwater pictures below
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ECOFRIENDLY TIPS UPCYCLE JARS FOR HOME DECOR
Don’t just dump your empty jars in the recycling bin. You can give jam jars, baby food jars or sauce containers a whole new lease of life with this brilliant idea. You’ll be shocked at what wonderful things you can do with them.
Prep your jars before you start, You will want to clean and sterilize your empty jars before re-using them so either stick them in the dishwasher or dunk them in a bowl of hot, soapy water for a few hours. This will also help get rid of any sticky labels, too.
When the jars are dry, where your gloves and paint the inside of the jars with your preferred colour. Rotate the jars gently, distributing the paint inside the jar until it is evenly covered with the paint. Put it out to dry.
Display your cut flowers, there’s nothing prettier than cut flowers in a large jam jar. Style it the way you like it. Makes them look beautiful with just a few pieces of lace and ribbon tied around each jar. Line up three jam jars full of your favourite posies for a lovely windowsill display.
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SIDE HUSTLE
Let`s discuss about investment and business opportunities in Nigeria. First, what is investment? Investment is like a seed planted with a hope of having multiple seeds in return or you call it a sacrifice made for a better tomorrow. As business people, investment could be money, time and energy we put in a certain business with the hope of having good ROI (Return on Investment). There are various types of investments (as we will explain soon) and how to invest. Now let me share with you some of the areas you can invest in. some of these industries may require that you have millions of naira to invest but don`t panic. I will share also, some low investment opportunities (such that you can invest in with little or no money) There are four major means by which someone can invest in Nigeria (or let me say four means that are simple and accessible by most of us) 1. You can invest your money through quoted companies listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange . Many of the companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange market are successful companies who seek investment from various people in order to be stronger and to have resources to win competition in their various industries. When you acquire a certain numbers of shares in such a quoted company, you will then become a shareholder. This makes you an automatic “partner” to the owners of such companies. You will be recognized (either by law or by people) as one of the owners of such company. Advantage of this kind of investment is that, you are not going to be involved in the day to day battles of the business world as regard the company you invest in (except of course if you actually own a lion share in the total company`s shares) You will earn your ROI (return on investment) and every other entitlements (if any) every year ended. Note that the year ended of some companies isn`t December 31 . Some companies usually start their new business year in July 1 and end it in June 30 or start by April 1 and end it by March 31 the next year. There is no business law that says that a company must prepare their end of the year financial statements by December. You have seen the advantage of investing in stock… you can earn 300%, 500& even 1000% Return on Investment (ROI) just by investing your money in one of the companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Market. Wait! There are some disadvantages. You can lose your money too. This is not just about investing in Nigeria stock exchange market alone. This is not about investing in stock alone, in fact, this is about business and investing generally. I have invested in personal businesses and failed terribly. You can invest your money in your own business and lose everything, if you don’t know the language (strategies, tactics) of the business world, but you see, when it comes to stock market, you`re not in control. Just as it sounds easy to make money just by investing in stock (no business headaches, nothing), it may sound unfair that circumstances beyond your control or understanding can lead to lose of your investment. Think about 2008 economic meltdown. Few years after then, I looked at the stock prices of some companies in Nigerian stock market I was familiar with and I pitied their shareholders. I saw companies that were having their stock prices as high as #80, #100 before the global meltdown then having their stock prices as low as #5, #8. What a terrible lose! You can`t possibly control what happens to the world economy, can you? I`m not making this analyses so as to discourage you from investing in stocks. If I do so, then I’m not qualify to be who I claim to be. I have told you before that business is a war . So is investing. It`s all about talking risk, fighting war and making money. But wait…. Don`t take blind risk on any investment opportunities You wouldn`t want to say that because Stephen has inspired you that business is all about taking risk, then you will go straight tomorrow morning to go and invest #1 million in just any listed company on the Nigerian stock exchange. No. That`s not risk. That`s foolhardy. Take smart risk. The difference between blind risk and smart risk is the education, financial education. Business education. Robert Kiyosaki loves to say, “Investment is not risky. Ignorance is risky”.
by Steve Olorun-Ni www.africabusinessclassroom.com
2. Invest in Real Estate Development If there is any less risky (not risk-free, friend) investment you can venture into, then that is real estate. The reason is this… the prices of properties rarely come down, especially in cities (like Lagos, Abuja, Portharcut) In a country as populated as Nigeria (the 10 biggest country of the world), demand for land, living apartments, offices and shops will always be at increase. That is one advantage of this type of investment. But you see, there are two or three disadvantages too. First, the investment in real estate is a long term investment. Your Return on Investment (ROI) doesn`t come as fast as other sectors of the economy you can invest in. Take for instance if you invest in a building with 10 million naira in Lagos, you may not be able to make such money back in 5years. Yes, you can continue to make money from such investment for 200 years (ho, sorry you cannot live 200 years on earth. Well, your children and grandchildren could be profiting from your investment after you`re gone). Another thing you have to watch out for is that, you really cannot know how to invest in good location (or what makes a location really good), until you train your mind to see invisible opportunities. If you ask an average man what a good real estate location is, he may tell you it`s a populated area where the rent is high. The problem with this thinking is that, whenever the rent is costly, the land and cost of building too will be costly. What if you could sport an area with low cost of land and building, but which (as you have used your financial mind to calculate) in the next few years, the property there will be gold? What if you could learn how to locate properties some people are tired of, buy them and renovate them? What if you could actually be smart with your real estate investment. You can, if you care to learn by reading good books on the subject of real estate. Donald Trump is a man that comes to my mind. He is a genius real estate man. He has written few books on the subject if you care to read them, search for them in bookstores or online. 3. Invest with a friend or business partner . As I am writing this, I have friends who have invested in my business ventures. They are busy and or not business minded, but they trusted me with their investments. You can invest with a trusted (I mean trusted) friend or a business partner. If it`s possible, let there be a solid business agreement. People change when money comes. 4. Invest into your own business. Now, let`s check how you can invest in your own personal business. You can invest to a business which is going to be yours. In this case, you`re the Agfa and Omega. You own your business and you`re responsible for it day to day running and progress of the business. In the future you may have the need to take such company to public and sell part of its share, you will still be the major share older and probably the CEO. Let me tell you this. You can excel with any kind of business provided you`re skilled in the art and science of business. A business minded person is like a skilled soldier. A skilled soldier can fight with any weapon (or even snatch the weapon of the enemy). To be a skilled entrepreneur, you must be a student of business. You have to learn how to be an addict reader. 5. You can invest in Nigerian Agricultural sector. Whether we like it or not, oil will not be the hope of our future economy. Agriculture sector will be. You may have any other area of interest apart from the ones I will talk about here, be sure you can make money from your investment in Agribusiness. 6. Can you invest in Fish Farming business? Yes, you can. People may not buy clothes, but they must buy fish (at least many people have to). Investment in fish farming could yield a good return in Nigeria because Nigerian government is not smiling at importation of frozen foods. That`s a good news for local investors, don`t you think so? Read this comprehensive tutorial about fish farming business 7. What about poultry farming ? Read this tutorial about poultry farming in Nigeria 8. What about snail farming Read this tutorial about snail farming 9. You can invest in fashion industry. Yesterday I was reading about the richest woman in Nigeria (Mrs. Alakija) who started her business career with a tailoring company. You can have a fashion company which specializes on sewing clothes and training people to be fashion designers.
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THE LAWS OF KEEPING A WOMAN
By Suzy Kassem styleisking.blogspot.com
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lot of times, women complain that there male counterparts do not treat them right. Be it in a confines of a relationship or office, women wants guys to know exactly what to do to make them happy and the same goes for women too, you’ve got to treat people right, so here it goes guys, these are THE LAWS OF KEEPING A WOMAN
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ever take a woman for granted or neglect her. The moment you do, she’ll start scanning the field and you won’t know it. Do not cheat on her, or cheat her. A woman’s revenge could be emotionally lethal. Do not boss her around, push her to do anything she doesn’t want to do, or force her to give you ANYTHING.
Do not expect her to wait on you hand and foot. She will take your foot and put it in your hand. Be appreciative for all she does for you and show her appreciation for being in YOUR life. When you start acting like she should be happy she is in YOUR life, she will go out to prove you otherwise. Never lay a hand on her, unless it is to caress her. Never make her second to anything. This is the biggest mistake any man can do. Don’t ever disrespect her or her family, even if she complains about them. It is OK for her to do it, but never for you. Remember this. Always GIVE more than you take from her to stay a man in her eyes. When a woman has to support you, in her mind, you are her bitch. Never treat a woman like a man, or she will treat you like a woman. Be truthful to her always — even if it hurts. A woman respects a man of Truth and men that lie repeatedly will never be taken seriously — only playfully. Women are like cats. Even when they play stupid, their radars are always perceptive and receptive to all that is happening around them. Do not play around your woman, or she will play you in the end. Never be afraid to show a woman your emotions. Do not expect her to know how you feel if you don’t reveal anything. Never hold back on love. When a woman feels something is missing, or that you are not in the relationship 100%, she will seek a more complete love elsewhere. Believe it. Support your woman’s dreams as if you were her number one fan and you will always be her number one man. Push a woman to fulfill her passions, and she will always be passionate about you. Stay in tune with the developments of her hobbies and projects, and she will be in tune with you. Even if she loves designing tiny hats for squirrels, what you should love is the excitement from her eyes whenever you see her doing what she loves. Treat your woman as if she were your precious daughter, more than you treat her as your mother — even if she is older than you. Women are like kittens. They love your attention, affection, pampering, to be spoiled, and really enjoy being showed and told new things. Remember, women will always have more options than men. They will only stay with the one who treats them best. A woman typically gives a man two chances for serious error. If he messes up more than twice, it is highly unlikely there will be a third. After the second slip-up, she already sees you as a different person. Always trust a woman’s intuition and never take her mind for that of a fool. If she tells you something, but then you have to go and ask for someone else’s opinion in front of her, if she was right she will never let it go. She will start taking you for the idiot. All it takes is once. The same way the Sun is the lamp of the universe, your woman should always be treated as the lamp of your life. Do not ever put her down in front of your friends or family. This will only make her despise your family and friends, and she won’t forget to return the favor. If she loves her family, try to love them as if they were yours too. She will love you more for sincerely trying. If you end up with a first-rate woman, never treat her less than first- rate. She will leave you for a first-rate man once you do. Never give your woman third-rate gifts (junk, used, discounted, as is, tacky). If you can’t afford to get her something first-rate, make her something from your heart, or wait until you have enough money to get her a first-rate gift. A woman would rather be given nice gifts, rather than a bunch of junky gifts. It shows her how you see her. Believe it. Never let your woman stand alone when she is being opposed. Always stand by her in the presence of opposition, and when you are in private then you can tell her your real thoughts on a situation. She will love you for not exposing her out in the open. Always stand by your woman. Always! However, if she is someone who always does people wrong, then she is wrong for you. If she is good and she is the one being wronged, if you sit down or do nothing, she will be gone. Women do not like weak men. Those women that tolerate weak men are very weak women. Treat your relationship as if you are growing the most beautiful sacred flower. Keep watering it, tend to the roots, and always make sure the petals are full of color and are never curling. Once you neglect your plant, it will die, as will your relationship. If your woman has left you heartbroken, then know it is most likely due to you violating at least one of the above. If you violated more than two, then know you had a very good woman. Now, for women, how do you treat a man and keep him? Do all the above for him too.
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BOSS
WOMAN Calling All Women: How You Can
Boss Lady, Too Be a
Nely Galán, former head of entertainment for Telemundo, is teaching women to find self-made freedom. Lisa Rab July 7, 2016 Nely Galán left home when she was 17. She ignored the threats and protests of her Cuban mother. “You are not going. You cannot leave me. I will never forgive you,” Galán remembers her mom saying. But to Galán, it wasn’t a choice. She was a first- generation Cuban immigrant, raised to believe she should stay close to her family and help care for them. She acted as her mother’s translator in their New Jersey town. She started selling beauty products when she was 13 to help pay tuition for her private Catholic school. She was not supposed to be selfish. And yet, how could she not go? As a high school graduate, she had been offered a full-time job doing research for a television show in Austin, Texas. She thought that God, or the universe, was sending her signs. I‘ve got to go, she thought as her mother cried. You’re getting in my way. So she packed up her orange Chevy Chevette and drove to Texas. It was the first of many moves that helped her construct a lifetime of independence. Galán went on to become the first Latina president of entertainment of a U.S. television network; head of her own company, Galán Entertainment; and founder of the Adelante Movement, which seeks to empower Latina women and help them become entrepreneurs. In her new book, Self Made: Becoming Empowered, Self-Reliant, and Rich in Every Way , her goal is to spread the same message: Women, especially those from more traditional cultural backgrounds, should aim to be their own bosses and make their own money so they can have the freedom to pursue whatever they love. Galán never says this will be easy. Professional Success La Jefa—the boss lady herself—is just proof that it can be done. *** Growing up, Galán watched The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family and kept a poster of Sherry Lansing—the first female president of a major Hollywood film studio—in her bedroom. Lansing had briefly worked as a teacher before entering the movie business, and something about her life made Galán think, I could do that, too. “There were no women that looked like me doing the things that I was interested in.” But at the time, she says, “There were no women that looked like me doing the things that I was interested in.” The characters in Spanish-language telenovelas looked like people in her family; they just didn’t act like them. She began to think that it was her job to make shows that reflected her reality.
Galán’s family emigrated from Cuba when she was 5, fleeing Fidel Castro’s dictatorship and settling in a predominantly Jewish and African-American neighborhood of Teaneck, New Jersey. Her mother, who had a college degree, took work as a seamstress in a factory. Her father went from owning supermarkets and car dealerships in Cuba to painting cars on an assembly line. But they didn’t complain. “They loved their new country, and they taught my brother and me to love it and be grateful every day for being here,” Galán writes in Self Made . Still, Galán knew what they had sacrificed. “Everything about your life growing up is about helping your family pay off debt .” She says this on the phone from Los Angeles, where she has a famously colorful home, a husband, a son, and a dog she adores. Her voice is confident and warm, slightly hoarse, with a pronounced New Jersey accent. It’s hard to imagine her struggling to defend herself. Yet as a kid, anxieties haunted her . She was scared of kites and the snow; bit her nails and cried often. In sixth grade, she was being bullied by a classmate and didn’t know how to fight back. One day, Galán yelled at the girl and threw her against a trash can. The girl backed off. It wasn’t Galán’s proudest moment, but she realized the need to stand up for herself. You might even have to fake the confidence to do it. “You have to sometimes pretend you’re someone else,” she says. Related: How to Stand Up for Yourself By the time she was a sophomore in high school, Galán was such a talented writer that one of her teachers accused her of plagiarizing Ernest Hemingway in a short story assignment. The school suspended her for three days, and her parents refused to defend her. “As immigrants, they were always afraid; everything brought shame,” Galán writes in her book. “They told me, ‘You need to go back and apologize to your teacher.’ ” No way. Instead, the 15-year-old Galán holed herself up in her attic during her suspension and wrote an essay: “Why You Should Never Send Your Daughter to an All-Girls Catholic School.” It was a cheeky, sarcastic look at the institution that had just punished her, with its highly proper nuns and dress code that didn’t fit the free-love style of the 1970s. “You wear these short skirts and then you roll them down so they don’t hit you on the knee,” she remembers writing. Galán mailed the essay to her favorite magazine, Seventeen . Then she went back to school. The nun who had punished her apologized, and Galán went back to being her studious, obedient self. Until one day a letter arrived on Seventee n magazine letterhead. “Congratulations!” it said. “We’ve chosen your article to be published in Seventeen. Enclosed is a $100 check.” Galán was ecstatic. The nuns were not. Seventeen had offered her a guest editorship—a yearlong, unpaid internship usually reserved for juniors in college. She graduated from high school a year and a half early. That year, she worked at a retail clothing shop to pay her bus fare into New York from Teaneck. Her colleagues at Seventeen were stylish blonde girls from Connecticut—not the kind of women who could sympathize with a Cuban girl who was used to dressing only for nuns. On her first day, her boss asked her to book a photo shoot. Galán had no idea how. “Well, if I have to explain it to you, I’d rather fire you,” the editor said. So once again, Galán got to work. The many nights she went home crying were worth it, Galán says, because that job represented her liberation. She was determined to win over the glamourous women she worked with. And she did. By the end of the internship, she was offered the job at the television station in Texas, the job that would lead to her freedom . *** By her early 20s, Galán was working at CBS in Boston as part of a producer and correspondent training program. She traveled all around the country interviewing people—an entry-level media gig known as stringing. One of the people she interviewed was Norman Lear, the highly successful creator of hit shows such as All in the Family and Sanford and Son. He told Galán that he and his partners had just bought a Spanish-language television station in New Jersey, and suggested that she interview for a position there. “We think the Latin market is going to be big,” he said. Galán wasn’t thrilled about the job. She didn’t think she liked Latino programming, and the station, WNJU-TV/Channel 47 in Newark, was tiny. Yet she knew Lear was a big deal in Hollywood and saw the opportunity working under him could provide. That’s how she became a station manager at age 22. The job required her to work day and night, creating programming, meeting with advertisers, managing sponsorship of the Puerto Rican Day parade. After five years toiling in low-level journalism, she thought she had landed her dream gig
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“You learn on the job all the pieces that it takes to run a business successfully,” she says. “That TV station was the best decision I ever made and the foundation of everything that was to come.” Until it was sold. One morning, Galán arrived at work to find the company’s attorney sitting outside her office. He calmly informed her that the television station had been sold to an insurance company. She ran to the bathroom and threw up. Three years of her life sacrificed for this? All Galán could think about was losing her job, and how her bosses hadn’t even bothered to warn her. She got into her car, tears streaming down her face, and drove over the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan. The 25-year-old station manager stormed into her boss’s office where she found him on the phone, bragging to someone about the sale of the company. “How could you do this to me? Why didn’t you tell me?” she remembers saying before bursting into tears. Her boss raised his hand to quiet her. “Young lady, those are our chips,” he said. “You want to play? Go get your own chips.” It was humiliating, infuriating, inherently unfair. But after she had calmed down, Galán realized he was right. She had to start her own company . She had to get her own chips. Her severance package from the station was enough to pay her salary for the next year, and she used that cushion to launch a production company that would create original Latino programs. It wasn’t easy. She moved into a cheaper apartment, sold her car and took night work as a stringer to pay the bills. Still, her company didn’t make money for four years. She prayed. She yelled at God. She listened to her mother tell her, “Mi’ja, your looks are fading. You need to find a husband.” Finally in 1992 she got a break. A friend became an executive at HBO and helped her land a gig advising the network as it prepared to launch in Latin America. A few months later, ESPN hired her to help launch a channel for ESPN Deportes. Then Fox called for a meeting—specifically, a meeting with the network’s owner, Rupert Murdoch. He wanted her to help launch all of the Fox channels in Latin America by creating promos and marketing materials for the television shows. It wasn’t what she wanted to do. She wanted to make her own content. But Murdoch, whom she now considers a mentor, convinced her that she needed to do more behind-the-scenes work first, to continue to prove herself in the industry. Instead of agreeing to work full-time for Fox, she negotiated a deal for the network to outsource the work to her company. She got her own chips. *** Fox became Galán Entertainment’s biggest client. Galán moved to Los Angeles and started spending more time working in Latin America than in the U.S. She also made wise real estate investments—a decision she says was key to becoming self-made . Even as Galán became more successful and moved to L.A., she didn’t buy a house or fancy furniture. First she bought her parents a condo in Miami, and then she bought an office building in Venice, California, to house her production company. The appreciation of that building, purchased cheaply in 1998, was one of the reasons she didn’t have to worry about working when the economy crashed a decade later. “The revenue from it and other buildings I had subsequently bought allowed me to dedicate myself full time to my mission,” she writes in her book. She didn’t buy herself a house for two more years, saving her money because she knew it was wiser to invest in property that would earn cash for her down the line. Meanwhile, Galán’s career kept climbing. Also in 1998, she took a hiatus from Galán Entertainment when Sony hired her to be president of entertainment for Telemundo—the first Latina president of an American network, the job she had dreamed about since she was young. Galán appeared to be on top of the world. But her personal life was about to collapse. She became pregnant with a man she had been dating for about 10 years but quickly realized the two of them had “irreconcilable differences.” Not long after her son was born, her partner left. Galán fell into a depression. After all her years of hard work and all the money she had saved, she still was not convinced that she could take care of herself and her son. A friend helped her see that she was perfectly capable of paying the bills, but she still felt ugly. She had gained weight and wasn’t happy with the way she looked. Galán started fantasizing about an inside out makeover. At the time, she was reading her son the complete works of Hans Christian Andersen. Reading him the story of the ugly duckling becoming a swan, she realized how universal it was, to wish for a complete transformation. “Everyone in the world knows what the swan is,” she thought. “This is a hit TV show.” Her idea became The Swan , a reality show that offered contestants extensive plastic surgery with the goal of remaking their lives. Before the show aired on Fox in 2004, Galán says the network made a last-minute decision to focus more on the high- stakes drama of extreme surgery than the internal transformation the contestants went through. She was disappointed, and the show endured ongoing criticism . But she’s proud of it anyway. “I still feel like it really was a life-changing thing,” she says. “And it was one of the biggest hits of my life.” Related: How a Self-Portrait Changed My Life Perhaps most important, Galán says The Swan gave her a way to profit from her suffering. That’s part of becoming self-made, too. “When you’re going through bad things, you think you’re alone,” she says. “Instead… you just use that pain to create work.” *** Galán left Telemundo in 2001. She competed on the first season of The Celebrity Apprentice in 2007.
Gene Simmons of the band Kiss was one of her teammates, and the two grew close. As she writes in her book, “When you get past the images of him in his crazy face paint and platform boots, [he] is extremely perceptive and thoughtful. Before he left the show, Simmons gave her a piece of life-changing advice. “It’s almost like you don’t enjoy the journey if it’s not hard.… Don’t you know that you don’t need to do that anymore? Don’t you know that you are already successful, that you have an incredible Rolodex at this point? Why aren’t you doing something bigger with your life?” It was a tough thing for Galán to hear. All she’d done since she was 17 was work harder than everyone else around her. It was her path to success. And now he was criticizing her for that? At home, her partner, Brian Ulf, encouraged her to think about it differently. What was she afraid of? What would she do if she only had one year to live? he wondered. The answer was easy: Go back to school. And that’s how, at age 45, Galán enrolled in courses for her bachelor’s degree. To some, the timing might have seemed odd. The economy was tanking and Galán was worried about making money with her entertainment company. But it turned out she didn’t need money. She’d lived frugally her whole life, saving pennies and investing her extra cash in real estate. Now her properties were generating so much rental income that she didn’t need another paycheck. For an immigrant who had been working full time since she graduated high school, this was an incredible feeling. “I didn’t have to work,” she says. “I was able to take time off and actually improve myself .” After receiving a bachelor’s degree, Galán earned a master’s in marriage and family therapy. She’s now working on a doctorate in clinical psychology. And she’s found her mission. In 2012 she launched the Adelante Movement, an organization that works to empower women through live events and online training in entrepreneurship. In Spanish, adelante means “Move it! Now! Let’s go!” Galán is the embodiment of the term. She tours the country, speaking to women, mentoring them, sharing her stories of success and failure. “Nely never forgets the people who helped her,” says her friend Nell Merlino, creator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day and the organization Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence. “She’s very generous.” That’s not to say that Galán thinks everyone should follow in her footsteps. She admits that her path to becoming a media mogul— doing things the hardest way, striving to be the head honcho in a corporate job—isn’t necessarily a good fit for other women. She estimates that about five of the 2,000 women she’s trained and mentored have decided to do something similar to what she does. They tell her, “We don’t want to grow up to be you. It’s a lot of work.” Even writing Self Made required dedication—a year to write it, along with months of work to launch and promote it. Given her financial status and all the years she spent becoming self-reliant, Galán could be retired. The immigrant girl from New Jersey is her own boss, runs her own company and spends her days teaching other women how to do the same. She lives in a beautiful house in Venice, a home so striking the Los Angeles Times called it “the most colorful house on L.A.’s Venice canals.” But that doesn’t mean she’s ready to stop reaching for the next goal. The difference now is that she’s working because she wants to, not because she has to. “I would never retire,” she says. “I think I’m gonna be 90 and still working.”
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“TRY ME;I DARE YOU.” -REASONS WHY WOMEN SUFFER: Disturbing Double Standards In Our Society-A MUST READ By Sonia Ogbonna ogbonnasonia.blogspot.co.ke
Then I am tagged a generous leg opener, “a runs girl”. They never see the possibility that I actually had to go through ups and downs to get to where I am. Because I am a woman. A man looses his wife to death and remarries a year after, he did the right thing, he’s being praised and congratulated for moving on, after all life is for the living. A woman looses her husband to death and remarries after 4yrs, “ahhh! so early? Are u sure she wasn’t sleeping with that man even when her husband was alive? That was why she killed her husband. She’s a witch! “ Because she’s a woman. Because I am a woman, this post will be considered controversial, and everyone will try to correct me. But don’t forget, that I am a woman and it does not make me less human.” COULD I SAY IT ANY BETTER? Honestly,I understand if there are some men out there justifying this double standards because the change is certainly not in their favor ... But the way it makes me angry when I hear my fellow women making peace with it in the name of “tradition” or what so ever.. You can’t understand. You normalize nonsense and STILL teach your daughters to be submissive because such is a “cruel woman’s fate”? No it is not. I say so! Watch me! You are not meant to suffer in silence while breaking your neck to be “that woman” so they won’t say you are not being “good enough “.That is not a woman’s destiny. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that women and men should “compete” in any way. Or that treating your man well is a bad thing. Nooo. I just think it should be mutual. I don’t believe we should normalize a woman’s misery. You are meant to be loved,appreciated and respected. You deserve that. Thoughts guys? Sonia Ogbonna Follow 431 Your daily dose of motivation and inspiration.Life coach. Relationship expert. Beauty,Pregnancy,Motherhood tips.Spiritual/ Emotional/Physical growth. The best possible version of YOU! Welcome to the bright side!
This really got me feeling all sorts of way... “I AM A WOMAN!!! - So what? I get into an argument with a man, he slaps me, I feel the pain, yet they tell me I provoked him. I should have been quiet, I should have been patient. I should apologize to him. I get into an argument with a man, I slap him, they tell me I have no respect, no home training. I should have been quiet, I should have been patient. I should apologize to him. Because I am a woman, I don’t have a right to be angry. So, the degree of my innocence is directly proportional to the degree of my silence in the face of oppression and brutality..... Because I am a woman, my husband cheats on me, I am told to tolerate it to save my marriage. The barbaric and stupid excuse is that ‘’it is in their nature to cheat, I should slim down, dress better, cook better, pray harder and be more pleasant to him” I cheat, and I am called a whore, I have committed an abomination, I have no right to look elsewhere for the love and emotional support I lack at home, I am an irresponsible mother. So I am sent packing, from the home we both built, with all my earthly possessions stuffed into a tiny box on my head. I am henceforth forbidden from seeing my two older children, I’m lucky to be allowed to go with my little one still suckling on my left breast. Three years later, the little one is tagged a bastard. Now, my new name is “after- three”, because I am a woman. He is 28 and runs a company. He’s tagged wonderful, hardworking, focused, career oriented, successful at a very young age. I am 28 and I run a company “ Hmmmm, she is not even married, unserious, can not order her priorities right, a hustler, loves money, let her go and get a husband oh” And I wonder if being successful has anything to do with a person’s gender. Because I am a woman, I am not allowed to have wits or be a prodigy, I cannot be financially buoyant, professionally successful or be treated with respect without a man beside me
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CallinG on Fashion desiGneRs and eMeRGinG desiGneRs
The Harmony fashion and design week is organised by EnvogueMagazine and will hold in the month of November, 2018. It goes with the theme of where Envogue magazine is located in the State of Harmony Ilorin, Kwara state, Nigeria. The aim of the Harmony fashion and design week is to integrate Nigeria through fashion. We are therefore calling on all fashion designers that are interested to send us a message @ envoguemagazine93@gmail.com. The Fashion show will also includecontests by upcoming or young fashion designers to design outfits that will show how integrated Nigeria is, despite the fact that it is a multiethnic Nation. The fashion contest will have young fashion designers designing outfits that show the diversity and beauty of Nigeria and the beauty of its integration. The winner and runner ups will win prizes for there effort. We are also pleading for sponsorship to make this show a reality. For all enquires send us a message at envoguemagazine93@gmail.com
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HEINEKEN LAGOS FASHION AND DESIGN WEEK #HLFDW
The 2017 Lagos Fashion and Design week held in Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island Lagos from October 25 to October 28, 2017. It was organised by Style House files and sponsored by Heineken. The show aims to bring together the best in the fashion industry across the continent. These are some of our favorite looks
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