Pretty, chic, fun and focused are just a few words that describe Model/Media PersonalityIsio Wanogho.With a huge array of campaigns in print and on TV as both a model and presenter in her eleven year career, she gracefully surpassed her peers, earning a great reputation and popular acclaim.
Being the last born of five children to a ‘very intellectual’ family, Isio did not relent in her educational pursuits, endlessly breaking the stereotype of the bimbo model.
With her modelling career taking the back seat in the last few years, Isio’s bountiful career still sees her recognized as ‘Isio the model’ even though her other exploits have brought in more income.
Equipped with her effervescent and elegant personality, Isio sits at the Scarlet lodge and discusseswith BN in-depth about her new projects and how she’s about to woo the world yet again.
As a model, one of your most striking features is your very beautiful eyes. Your eyes have raised a lot of commentsas to if you’re mixed-race or have some Asian blood in you. So, are you?
To the best of my knowledge, I’mnot Chinese (laughs) or mixed. I get a lot of disappointed faces when people ask, mostly abroad, where I’m from and I tell them that I’m African and more specifically, Nigerian. They seem to expect something more exotic,like my grandfather is Japanese and my mother is Egyptian. But, no, I’m a pure bred Urhobo, one hundred percent.
I read in a tabloid that you are related to Cynthia Bailey from the Real Housewives of Atlanta because you two lookalike.
May be we had a common ancestor or herKinta Kuntewas taken from my tribe (laughs). Honestly, I wasn’t like this when Iwas a child. It was there but it wasn’t so obvious and the older Igot, it became more obvious so I decided to highlight it. It’s very easy for me to do the wind thingbecause I don’t have to spend so much time contouring and all that. The older I got, my nose started becoming straighter and my eyes started going upward. When I was younger, I was the butt of a lot of jokes because of that actually.
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Lagos. When I was five, I went to boarding house. A school called May Flower at Ikene,Ogun state –Tai Solarin’sschool. The reason for that was my father wanted all his kids, male orfemale to be very strong and very self-reliant. I had barely formed and he just bounced me there. All of us were in the schoolso there was no whining about it. I spent twelve years there and came out when I was seventeen. I started modelling when I was eighteen.
You’ve made quite a comeback on the social scene.What was the reason for the hiatus and where have you been?
I was away for two years. I’m such a nerd. That is something a lot of people don’t know about me. I love to read and study. I come from a family of intellectuals so I can’t be lacking in that regard. So, I went away todo my Master’s degree in Europe. I went to a design school in Italy to study Interior architecture. I couldn’t imagine just having a bachelor’s degree and being donewith it. I have a bachelor’s in creative arts and wanted to delve a little further. Apart from that, I have several diplomas – it’sridiculous, about four actually.
So you have quite a love for school?
I love to study. I went to finishing school. I studied Italian and did some computer programming courses. I did fashion design. I really just love to study because I was lucky enough to know my strengths and know what I like to do. And, maybe it is because of the boarding house influence as I was allowed a lot of expression. If you are good in many things, you owe it to yourself to pursue that many things and find out which one you like best and that’s just what I do. I love to model. I love being a socialite because it’s fun. I love to paint, read and study so I do all these things. For me, it’s not just about one thing and ignoring all the others. I do everything I love.
You were recently made the Youth Ambassador for GlobalUnity,Peace & Development. How did this happen?
Before this happened, an organization,African Youth Societytold me they had been studying my life and career for about two or three years. I had no idea. They wanted to give me a role model award sometime back in 2010. They let me know, as they had studied me and found out that I pretty much made myself. They were quite impressed and wanted me to mentor other young people; especially since people thought that modelling was quite frivolous. They wanted to use meto show people that you could bea good model, be well-educated; have a good image and still sustain a great career. After that, its governing body decided to make me a youth ambassador instead. I am still very excited about it.
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