Elizabeth Elohor is hardly a name to not mention when highlighting those who’ve shaped the framework of Africa’s fashion industry. This is evident in the work she has done with Beth Model Management, which is often described as one of Africa’s largest modeling agencies.
Elohor’s fashion story begins as a pageant queen in the early aughts. While studying for a bachelor’s degree in Business and Information Technology at the London Metropolitan University (formerly London Guildhall University), she took on an internship role working for a Nigerian company. On one of the days, her boss brought in a magazine, convinced she was a perfect fit for an upcoming pageant event, and asked if she’d apply. However, there was this hesitant grip on her, duelled by the fact that she wasn’t into fashion like her mother and that she was shy.
However, consequent conviction from her mother and friends urged her to let go of the thoughts and apply. She applied, made it to the top 20, spent nearly a week training at the boot camp, and even showed up for the final rehearsal when her anxiety struck and she had to call her mother again. Elohor recalls telling her mother she’d completed the training process and that she was mentally over the show. In response, her mother divulged that she’d gotten a visa and was planning to surprise her. “She motivated me, told me she’s been in the situation before, and it will fade,” she shared over a video call.
She participated in the pageant finale and won the 2001/2002 Miss Nigeria UK. However, reflecting on the moment, Elohor remarks that being a pageant queen has nothing to do with her success. She shares that it helped her build resilient confidence and undeniably taught her how to speak boldly and communicate effectively.
Born in London in the 1980s, Elohor’s family moved back to Nigeria when she was two years old. Her mother, she says, is an elegant woman who used to work at the Nigerian Television Authority. Elohor’s earliest taste of fashion came by way of her mother. She had been a part-time model during her youth, shooting ads for then-burgeoning Nigerian companies like Thermacool. Elizabeth describes her as one who is obsessed with style. She also says that her mother would watch Fashion TV every night. “Her love for fashion made me love [it] more because I was surrounded by magazines constantly,” she shared.
After Elizabeth’s pageant win, she returned to Nigeria, where she used her status as Miss Nigeria UK to secure some modelling gigs that weren’t available for her in the UK due to her height limitations. While working on campaign shoots and other beauty queen ordeals, she began to look for a modeling agency that would sign her and quickly realized there were no options. It was this lack that propelled the birth of Beth Model Africa.
During the early days of Beth Model Africa, Elohor admits that she had no clue what she was doing, had no training at the foremost, she only had a dream, and that was to get all her models on the front page of fashion magazines both home and abroad. The first group of Beth models were pageant girls, and then after training herself in the industry, she realized there was a difference between fashion models and pageant queens.
Her first photoshoot gave her the cues. They had brought in a Black model and a biracial pageant girl, which was exciting for her. During the shoot, she realized it took them nearly six hours to get a perfect picture of the biracial model in contrast to the other model, which took them an hour, and that was when she understood it wasn’t about the beauty; it was fluidity and intentionality knitted in one. She began to unlearn and relearn while on the job, taking note that the hopes of seeing her girls on international runways and in magazines wouldn’t be an easy fit, opting to start working with advertising agencies in Nigeria.
Beth Model Africa faced numerous challenges in its early days, but what stood out the most was the distrust and lack of information about how modeling agencies worked in Nigeria for both companies and individuals. “Just to get a model to sign a contract was a big problem for us,” she says. “I used to tell them, in Europe, once you sign a contract, people would go to parties. They were going to have to celebrate it. But then in Nigeria, it was different; we had to beg people to sign a contract. We had to deal with our parents.” They were also met with the challenges of models who would sign and quit work after a while. She also shared that some clients prefer speaking to the models directly rather than the agency.
By 2007, everything was gracefully unfolding. She had reached out for a partnership with top international agencies. Amongst the many positive responses were Elite, and because they had an annual competition, ‘Elite Model Look,’ it felt important for Elizabeth to bring the franchise to Nigeria. They worked with Elite for 13 years, and it was also through this competition, so many international models began their journey. One of the prominent few is Mayowa Nicholas.
Nicholas was on her way to a salon when she was discovered by Beth’s model booker, who informed her about the Elite model look competition. She came by the office, got signed, and participated in the competition, which she won, making her the 2014 winner of the Nigerian Elite Model Look and the top finalist in the world.
She immediately got signed to Elite and started her career, which has since then been an incredible success, including being on the cover of numerous editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, and countless other magazines. Nicholas has also been a Victoria’s Secret model and has graced the runways and campaigns of brands like Versace, Balmain, Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, Hermès, Miu Miu, and many others.
For Elohor, nothing makes her prouder than seeing her clients experiencing success. She mentions that it makes her elated. “It’s like a mother. You see the child growing beyond anything.” She is also delighted to see how the modelling industry has grown on the continent and how there are now more local agencies catering to the representation of models. Notably, she also adds that she admires how there is a bold representation of Africa on the international runway. “It is what I’ve always wanted,” she states.
However, she’s been an active supporter of building the local fashion market and having models work in their own region which is why after 13 years of partnership with Elite Model Look, she got the revelation to start Future Face Global, a competition that extends to other countries in the continent beyond the usual scouting that is available for them. It’s been four years, and she’s been able to work with more than 30 modeling agencies.
Elizabeth is constantly on the move to build her clientele, to make relationships with designers and companies across the continent. And even after two decades of spearheading her company, with over 200 models across different African countries, she’s grateful for the platform she has built to help young people achieve their potentials and pursue their dreams and in years to come, she hopes she could do more with Future Face Global and for Beth Model Africa.