ALBERTA ANTWI, BEAUTY’S CHERISHED BRAIN

Albi, CEO of Blaq Africa GH.

Chief Executive and founder of Blaq Africa GH, Alberta Antwi, aspiring to become one of the best hoteliers Africa in the near future, is a student of Hospitality Management at the International Travel and Tourism Institute in Accra.

The proud black African woman established her modelling agency under the trade name Blaq Africa GH two years ago. The young agency currently has 10 models under its management. The urge to start the agency was born out of Albi's thirst for vintage fashion, runway walks and the desire to help the young and under privileged in society.

The young CEO-Student admits combining education and managing an agency as being very tedious, however, she remains focused and works tirelessly to find herself at the prime of her chosen field. Albi gave credit to her assistant, who she says has been very supportive in the management of the organization.

Alberta Antwi keeps a diplomatic yet very cordial relationship with her models. She is very keen on their personal development and places a lot of attention on their welfare. Blaq Africa GH. admits all sizes, complexions and sexes of models. Models who aspire to enroll into the Blaq Africa family must be hardworking, God fearing, honest and must have great passion for modeling. Ms. Antwi placed great emphasis on these attributes.

Speaking on how she manages the different personalities and competitive urges of her models, Albi said that she tries very hard to identify the strengths and weaknesses of her models. With that, she assigns them to fields that they will excel in. She said, “Some are good at posing for pictures, others good on the runway whilst some excel as dancers in music videos. To make them all round models, I encourage them to learn from and be supportive of each other.” Do you encourage competition? “Yes, I do! It makes the weaker ones pull their weight but I am cautious how I go about it. My mindfulness is to avoid the nursing of enmity between them,” Ms. Antwi answered.

Catalogue of Models from Blaq Africa

CEO with models at an activation

Blaq Africa GH. has been involved in a number of jobs. Notably amongst them being ushering at the Birthday bash of ace radio broadcaster Bola Ray and birthday party of the owner of Image Consortium. The team has also been involved in activations for brands such as Club Shandy, Mahou Beer, Belvedere and Santa Issabelle. Blaq Africa also did a runway walk at Radsford University and a charity show in Lanchaster University. Amongst all these jobs, being contracted as official models for the 2014 Ghana DJ Awards Launch was the gate opener for the organization.

As a CEO of a modelling agency, will you debunk suggestions that modelling agencies exploit their models?

“Exploitation is happening in the modelling industry. Most girls are naïve and do not make adequate enquiries before they sign up for an agency, making them prey for some agencies to feed on. Young models do not know much about percentages and the dos and don’ts of the industry.” Ms. Antwi advised young girls, especially, interested in modelling to make adequate and in-depth enquiries about an agency before they enroll into it. “Read every contract given you very carefully before you sign.” She cautioned.

What is your view on bleaching?

Alberta Antwi

“Bleaching is so bad and I would even advice my enemies against it,” she said with much passion. It is for this reason that my models and myself are throwing our full support for Ama K. Abebrese’s Anti-bleaching Campaign.” She added.

The hallmark of Blaq Africa GH. is on time and perfectionist delivery of jobs. We make sure we are always on time and prove to our clients we are the best.

Ms. Alberta Antwi is also a make-up artiste. She personally does the make-up of all her models for all their shoots, including video shoots. Albi was the make-up artiste of hiplife artist Kemeya’s “I no get time sef” video.

Blaq Africa is currently preparing to undertake two major projects before the close of the year.

1. Make a donation to the Mantse Tackie Cluster of Schools in Adabraka, a suburb of Accra.

2. A road trip to Aburi for potential models, designers and the youth at large to showcase their potentials and products in a photo shoot.

Ms. Alberta Antwi who aspires to become the best CEO of the best modelling agency in the next 5 years advised the youth to beware of what they get involved in, she also admonished them to be very prayerful, hardworking and keep aiming at achieving their goals.