Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorce mother.
She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives, and emotions about this world.
In these difficult times in human history, we need to bring the people of the world together.
And when we hear the voices of women, when we listen to real lives of women from other countries
we connect our cultures without differences or stereotypes.
And we get inspired by their stories to live a better life.
That's what this podcast is all about.
My guest today is Planet, Modelster, Anyau.
Planet is a model with tribal mark.
And the first Nigerian girl in this podcast, so this is a very special episode.
Planet is now living in Dubai.
She is the third runner up of being she Universe 2022, a woman's empowerment network in Dubai.
Planet is a crown queen for Queen of South 2014, Miss Supermodel Worldwide Nigeria 2019,
and she was featured in movies in Nigeria and Dubai.
She has walked for a lot of designers from different fashion shows like CMac, Fashion Show,
Fashion Factor, Arab Fashion Week, Middle East Fashion Week, and Amity University Fashion
Show, her hobbies are reading, being in front of the camera, surfing the internet and watching
movies.
Planet, how are you today?
I am doing fine.
Thank you so much, Aziz.
Thank you for having me.
I'm honored.
I'm lucky.
I'm excited about this episode and I'll begin it with this nice first question.
Planet, if your friends, the people who know you best could describe your personality,
what would they say about you?
I would say people who know me would say, I'm down to ads, I am calm, I'm friendly, I'm
a loyal friend, I'm stubborn a bit, it doesn't much I could say.
Thank you and I want to explore the stubborn part, but first, did you notice or do you
think your personality has changed compared to Nigeria when you lived there and after
you began living in Dubai, did Dubai change you or you adapted somehow or are you the
same person in Africa and in the Middle East?
Thank you, what I could say is I'm a different person from who I was in Africa and who
I am in Dubai.
In Africa I was, I would say I never knew my sports, I was doing all kinds of modeling
sports, I was a beauty queen, I was doing hand model, I was doing all sorts, I couldn't
find my place.
Then I got to Dubai and I was able to also find my place, find where I belong, be able
to understand life and another perspective and it's really for women but I love it and
it's something always grateful for every day, thank you.
You're welcome and about your stubborn part, there are many women who, when they're young
they don't find their confidence, maybe they are scared of judgment of other people,
they follow what society tells them and that they tell them, oh be normal, don't be too
ambitious, stay in your comfort zone, what gives you the courage to, for example, leave
Nigeria and go to Dubai, start a new life there, what in your thought or in your belief gives
you confidence that maybe other women can learn from.
What gives me confidence that other women could learn from is, I love Africa to Dubai
to explore the world, thank you, so are you a curious person, are you a person who is brave,
what do you mean, tell me more about how exploring the world gives you confidence in
yourself and bravery to take action, thank you.
So like I said before previously I left Africa to Dubai to explore the world and not
just exploring the world, I came here with the purpose to achieve my dream and my dream
has always been to be a top model in Dubai, I've always had that dream right from, I
will see, since I was 18, 19, after I saw a magazine of Nomi Kanbo and I may call it
a catalog and I was like, okay, I want to be like, I want to be on the magazine, I want
to be a super model, but I want to do it in Dubai and before I left Africa, I already
put on my Facebook that I will talk more about the Dubai, like I believed in myself,
all matas is believing in yourself, having faith in yourself, having so much confidence
in yourself, if you don't believe in yourself, who will, if you don't push yourself, who
will, if you don't stand for yourself, who will, nobody would do that for you.
So it always starts with yourself, you cannot give what you don't have.
So if you say you want to be a model, then you have to stand up, believe in yourself,
go out there and no matter what you see, no matter the negative feedback, any kind of
feedback you get positive, negative, never let anything weigh you down, always keep your
head above and keep going and you will get whoever you're going to, without any hindrance,
without any regrets of, oh, had I known, I would have kept going, oh, had I known, I would
have done this, no need to regret, just do it now, now is the best time, no time is too
late, your body doesn't matter, your height doesn't matter, your figure doesn't matter,
your face doesn't matter, whoever you are doesn't matter, your skin color doesn't matter,
all the matas is you, you, you, you do, you do what makes you happy, believe in yourself
and everything else will fall into place.
Thank you.
I agree 100%, so you basically manifested your dreams through extreme confidence.
I like that.
And to understand you even more, when you are looking at now, me, calm bell and you
imagine yourself being on the cover of magazines, being a supermodel, why was that motivating
for you?
What does it give you?
Is it a feeling?
Is it impact?
Do you love being in front of the camera because the attention gives you happiness or what
about being and that goal of becoming a supermodel is keeping you encouraged and motivated
every day?
What do you love most about the idea?
Thank you so much.
What I would say I love most about the idea is missteping out of my comfort zone.
I have always been a shy someone who, who lacks self esteem, I finally had to, let me
call it an introvert, I finally had to mingle with people, I finally had to stand in front
of the crowd, I hit the camera, but after I saw that picture, I was like, if she can do
it, then I can't, she's, she's an African, she's black, if she can do it, then I can
do it.
And then my aunt told me that I should look for something else and do, that modeling wasn't
my thing.
And I was like, okay, I'll talk to you that I can be that person, though, and I got to
the buy and I decided to chase it, though it wasn't easy at first, but it kept going.
It kept going.
All you needed, all I needed to do was to believe in myself, never let the nose get to
me, and always keep looking at me, I'm going to never look back, just keep going, always
be appreciative of people who have to, because they said, those you made on your way,
go, you know, on your way, coming down, you still meet them.
So it's always good to, will I say, associate more with people, it really helped me to come
up from my step out of my comfort zone, I began to love the camera more, I began to love
being in front of people, something I don't like going, I began to love speaking in public,
began to, we have to stand for myself.
So being a model is not just being a model, it also helps you to be able to conquer the
world in your own way, not in a way that everyone can understand.
Everyone has a battle, he or she is fighting, so I decided to fight mine through my passion
and honestly it's, have you did some more than I expect and I'm really, really happy
for that.
Thank you.
I like that very much.
And one of the things that fascinated me is when you spoke about your own telling you
to find something else and you decided to prove it to her and earlier you spoke about
yourself being stubborn as a characteristic in your personality, well, how can other women
and girls learn from you to be more stubborn so that they chase their dreams, they become
leaders because we live in a time where because of social media, too many girls, they see
women who look like they're living the jet set life, who have all the goals already at
18 or 19 who are on yachts all the time, etc.
And therefore they think, oh my God, I can never be like that, I can never be so successful
or prove to anybody that my dreams are worth it.
So what beliefs do you have or what is your perspective that allows you to be stubborn
that also again other girls who maybe don't have that confidence because they compare
themselves through social media to many girls who look so perfect and therefore they
never even try, how can you make other girls stubborn enough to make their dreams reality?
Wow, I would say everybody is different.
That is one thing I know for sure, everybody is different, what is my motivation, might
not be your motivation, what works for A, might not work for B, I would say what works for
me is my resistance, my fate in myself, I think that's what brought me to here because
couples of times that I have always been thinking of giving up but at the end of the road
I see and I look at where I started from, where I'm going and I found out that where I
was yesterday and where I am today, I'm better than where I was yesterday and I know
I'll be better than where I will be tomorrow.
So why should I give up?
As long as your life you're not meant to give up, that's why they always say as long
as there is life, there is hope.
So why should I give up, give up when I know that I was able to see myself waking up
the next day, why should I give up?
Why should I give up when I know that there is hope?
Why should I give up when I know I have legs, I have hands, I have every part of me to think
and be who if I want to be, why should I give up?
There are people who don't even have hands, they don't have legs, they don't have food,
they don't have anything and still they never give up, they believe in some day or two
will be fine.
So why should I give up when I have everything they don't have instead I should be grateful.
So do everyone out there or everyone out there, anyone out there, anyone else to go into
their dreams who wants to chase their dreams, who have a lot of things they want to be
just, but just because they see people, social media, they'll be like, okay, this lady
looks better than me or I can't be like that, it happens to everybody, it's not just
to few people, it happens to every single person, every single person feel it, I feel
it, the next person feels it, but one matter is how you are able to control yourself,
how you are able to tell yourself, no, everything I see out there isn't real, what is
real is me and I love myself, I love me, tell yourself, I have a mission where it's
every day, I love me, I am me, believe in yourself as long as you believe in yourself
when you love yourself, first of all you have to love yourself, if you don't love yourself
you cannot love others and that is the fact of life, if you don't love yourself, if
you don't love your body, you keep thinking that other people are better than you,
you are much more, much more better than anyone out there, no one can be you, you are
a you, there is some unique tract in every single soul, everyone is special, every single
soul is special, whether you are married, whether you are chubby, whether you are slim,
every single soul is special out there, so why do you want to lose the flavor of your
specialty, for something you see on social media that doesn't even care or something
that is still social media that may be futile, that may be apps, that may be one thing
or the other, so why should you let yourself to be moved because of what you see, instead
of when you see those things you will be like, okay, since I see this thing you are looking
good, I want to work hard on myself to look this good, okay what did you do, is it the
gym, I want to go to the gym, if I can't go to the gym I do it in the house, all you
need is to love yourself, you cannot give what you don't have, love yourself before you
be able to love outside, if you be able to chase your dream and don't forget, everybody
stop on this different, everyone is totally different, what motivates you might not
be what motivates me, so in all, don't be moved, don't be, don't be intimidated, don't
let go of your confidence, don't let go of your, of you, don't let go of you, don't
let go of you, and everything else will fall in place, and don't forget, keep working hard,
keep dreaming, I don't just dream, chase it, work for it, and you achieve everything
you have I wish for, thank you.
I agree, if you're willing to put in the effort, always no matter the obstacles the universe
will give you back something that shows you you're on the right track and first you have
to show you deserve it, and about Dubai, you said in the beginning it was hard, well
a girl from Nigeria going to Dubai, it's a different culture, how was the adaptation, what
things that you experience that you thought are unusual based on your own culture, what
things that you fall in love with that you think are not things that Nigerians do, but
you find interesting, how did you adapt to the culture, to the city, tell us everything,
maybe there are girls in this world who dream of going to live in Dubai, they don't
know what to expect, maybe they've never been there, so share your experience, what was
hard at first, and how did you adapt, okay, when I first moved to Dubai it, I saw it traffic
lights, in Nigeria we have traffic lights, okay, but we barely, or barely traffic lights,
well that's why I say stop it, isn't us, it's just who we are, I would say the traffic
lights, there is no sign, and even though there is a sign, people don't listen to it because
everyone is in a hurry to go to work, people are in a hurry to do this, so in the hurry
to go to the market, I hurry to go buy food stops, but he ain't Dubai, when I go to Dubai,
I saw the traffic line, I noticed everybody was organized, people who were working, those
were riding the tree cycles, those were driving, everything was perfect, I was like are you
kidding me, and Nigeria nobody will listen to you, nobody will wait for you to stop,
everybody just keep going, and then one day I was crossing the road, and Nigeria if you're
crossing the road we run, we run to cross the road because they're like ask and hit you
and they don't care if you die or not, they don't care because they're in a hurry to go to
work, they will tell you, look at your left, look at your right, before crossing, boy in Dubai,
you don't need to look at your left and your right, so all you need to do is follow this
signal and just go listen to instruction, Dubai taught me how to be instruction more,
Dubai taught me how to, how to be more calm before course, and Dubai taught me,
Dubai put my eyes to more about life, much more than what I knew, Dubai taught me how to
associate more with people, Dubai also gave me so much courage, when I started modeling in Dubai,
I went for a custom, I went for a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot of customs for more than one
year, and nobody ever picked me, I was never selected, I lost hope, I gave up until someone
told me, I went for the last custom that I took myself, I was never going to do any modeling
again, I gave up on modeling and did a custom that I taught me, young lady, I wanted you to go
back home, modeling is not for you, in photoshoots, in no kind of modeling is for you, go back home,
just forget about, look for another job and you can be made, you can't do anything, but
modeling is not for you, you don't have what it takes, you can't even achieve it, and I said okay,
I left, I went home, I cried so much and then I stopped seeking for modeling and I started
looking for a job, I such a job, I such a such a such, I couldn't get a job, but then I
saw online for models needed and I was like why should I apply it, do you want to sit
tell me that I'm not good enough or I should look for another job or why should I keep doing
something when I'm not needed, what am I doing here, I give up on staying here in Dubai, I give
up on everything, I want that to just go back home to Nigeria and then do some I applied for
this job, my friend told me, come on, apply, it just, it doesn't cost anything to apply,
and I was like, they will not pick me, they just apply, they don't pick you, then let it go,
and I applied and two days later, they called me and said, planet, you've been selected
for the fashion show, but there'll be three days training, intensive training, I evolve by
said yes, and that was my first fashion show or first, everything, anything modeling in Dubai,
so I saw a lot of things I wasn't used to in Nigeria, and I got here, I saw a lot of them,
it's not in a negative way, instead it was in a positive way, it was in a way that it
taught me a lot more about life in general, it gives you more understanding about how about humans
in general, it teaches you so much, the bite teaches you so much, Dubai has so much opportunities,
all you need to do is walk hard, walk smart, and be patient, remember one, do not disturb the
community, open instruction, once you obey the rules and instructions in Dubai, you have no problem,
just the rules and instructions, you have no problem, as long as you're good in obedience,
Dubai is your home, thank you. Thank you too, and I'm wondering, do you believe in destiny,
do you believe in some spiritual thing that you're manifesting, that maybe you're destined
to be this supermodel, because in a previous life you're a queen and reincarnated now, or you
believe in God, and that he has a plan for you, and that keeps you motivated, or do you believe
no, everything is all about your hard work only, and how much you put in is what you get,
not based on any divine intervention, or destiny, or faith. I would say in mind,
success or everything I have comes from God, come from God, it comes from the most high,
comes from, it comes from everything you mentioned, it comes from God, first of all, it comes from
my determination, it comes from my hard work, it comes from my patience, and it comes from what else?
What else? It comes from people who has been with me right from the beginning till now,
it comes from everybody I've been working with, people who have referred me, people who have
connected me to different people, it comes from everyone, it comes from everyone who has been
in my life, one way or the other, it comes from everywhere, it comes from everywhere, it's not just
what changed. Thank you so much, planet, and this was really my honor to spend this time,
to explore your life, your experience, to share your soul, your voice, and your wisdom, thank you
for participating in this project, I wish you to become a supermodel in Dubai, and to have
your photos on the covers of magazines all over the world. Thank you so much, thank you so
much, I'm normal, thank you, thank you as is, thank you.
