Nehanda Beauty: Teurai Chanakira

By admin On May 13, 2010 924

This Zimbabwean Australian-based model was born in Gweru and raised mainly in Harare, until the age of 13, when she emigrated to Germany with her family. She then moved to the UK, where she completed a law degree and subsequently, a Masters in Law. She emigrated to Cairns, Australia where she is currently based, because she grew weary of the cold weather in the UK and for employment opportunities better suited to her.

Nehandaopeningpic — Teurai Chanakira (Bechtel Photography)

Teurai says that she has always dreamed of modelling from a young age and finally got motivated to model in Australia after being approached by a popular local fashion store, to be in one of their fashion parades. Furthermore, she had already noticed that there was a lack of darker models in the Australian media and was inspired to be part of breaking the sad myth that she feels is engrained in Australia and in other parts of the world, where darker people are the minority, that ‘dark is not beautiful, fashionable or marketable’.

She has already achieved a substantial number of accomplishments in her short modelling career, including being the Australian face of the Zimbabwe International Music Awards 2010 and recently got to the top 100 of Naomi Campbell’s Global Model Search, from over 8,000 entries worldwide.

teurai-chanakira-bikini-500 — Teurai Chanakira (Rick Heaton Photography)

Her other accomplishments include, but are not limited to:

• September 2009 Female Finalist in Beautiful People Magazine online: she is due to travel for an all-expenses paid trip to Miami in September 2010 for the finals and is eligible to win US$100,000;

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• Featured on front page of Cairns Sun newspaper October 2009: due to winning the above competition;

• Australian face for AUTHENTIC FASHION RENAISSANCE (AFR)/First and only Zimbabwean model so far: AFR is a label started by people from all over Africa and which donates 20% from the proceeds of the sale of its clothes to African orphanages.

• Top inaugural model for the ZIMBO JAM’s new Jam Fashion Section

Nehandapinktop — Teurai Chanakira (Peter Brown Photographer)

Teurai says, ‘I love doing what I enjoy and am passionate about. I would also like to achieve positive outcomes through my modelling. That’s why I am so excited, for example, by being a model for AFR, as the label donates to African orphanages. I believe that the children of Africa are our future leaders, teachers etc and it is important to look out for them. I am also proud to be Zimbabwean/African and am happy to represent my country in whatever I can do whilst I am abroad’.

You can also find more pictures and updates on her modelling projects on her Facebook Modelling page, ‘Teurai Chanakira Model’.

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