Niler Bernard’s take on modeling industry

Dar es Salaam. Growing up in Arusha, model Niler Bernard never expected to be in the limelight as a model.

As young children in her neighbourhood referred to her as Miss Tanzania, because of her figure which many equated to that of beauty queens.

In a recent interview with The Beat, the model speaks of how she got into modeling, relationship, competition in the game and her label in South Africa, the Boss Model.

Defining moment

“The idea of becoming a beauty queen didn’t make sense to me,” Niler says.

On top of the things she wanted to be was to become a psychologist though she later found herself fully embracing modeling by 2013.

The year, according to Niler, was her defining moment that would later come to transform her life completely.

“This was during the time I showed up for Zanzibar Fashion Week casting. I didn’t know how to walk or do anything related to modeling.”

Niler, who has currently embarked in authoring on the country’s fashion blogs, narrates that she had not been on the runway before the casting she attended at the Zanzibar event.

“I remember the last time I did the runway was in college and I eventually won. This was notwithstanding having no knowledge of the catwalk.”

According to her, during the Zanzibar Fashion Week she emerged lucky again.

“I was chosen among the girls who were to walk for the fashion week. I was naïve. So I had to learn right away and what I did was to let other girls walk before so I can see how it’s done. I was picked and from there everybody was like ‘you should be a model’,” she says.

When she later went for the audition for Tanzania Top Models, the 25-year-old model won and had chances of going places across Africa but she wasn’t prepared for the industry just yet.

It was after her stint in Egypt where she met top models from across Africa and the world that she arrived at the decision to pursue modeling as a career of choice.

The South African management

From the day she arrived from Cairo Niler never looked back as she would soon get signed at Boss Model, an agency based in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa.

She also signed to Full Circle Model, which is boutique model and celebrity management agency based in Cape Town, South Africa.

“Boss Model gave me a five-year contract after seeing my work. After working with them for over a year, I wanted to travel. That’s when I went to them and asked if they had an agency in South Africa which are in agreements with them and that’s how I got signed at Full Circle,” says Niler.

Despite giant strides being made in the modeling industry locally , she believes the local arena is yet to become competitive in comparison to South Africa.

She says that most of those doing modeling in the country don’t do it as a business but rather a way of seeking exposure and attention.

“In South Africa, alternatively, models have one thing in common: making money. People there are more serious as they know that modeling is their means of survival.”

Rewards

There have been some rewards too, and she admits that she isn’t the same naïve girl she was a couple of years ago when she first ventured into modeling.

“I have evolved as a person, I have grown both personally and professionally to take control of my life. I depend on myself financially, which is inspiring to those who would like to pursue modeling as a career.”

Resisting challenges

But the journey in the modeling industry has not been smooth either. To her, it is a journey that has had its fair share of challenges which she says she only got over given her level of commitment.

“You need to be able to learn while on the go, if you don’t have a strong financial support; things become very hard as you fail to support yourself. Alongside modeling, you need a part time job to back you up.”

Misconception

There is always a price to pay for one’s success; Niler is single, just because of the misconception among the people in the country towards modeling. Many see them as loose girls on the prawl.

“The picture which I once shot for Victoria Secret Models caused a backlash in the social media saying that it was nude while at the same time people know that I’m a model and that is my job.”

Niler let her boyfriend go, who surprisingly was a photographer, on the same grounds that the pictures she takes were inclined toward nudity. “But people need to understand that this is work and not that we do to show our body parts,” she says.

Workout

On her workout routine, Niler says she no longer spends long hours working out. “I now know what does what in my body,” says the Jasmine Tookes-inspired model.

“I don’t have a constant workout routine except a simple exercise to keep myself healthy.”