Back on the runway

• Miss Heritage international beckons Malawi

Modelling is not an easy career to break into, more especially in a country such as Malawi where it is regarded as a waste of time.

All too often, one’s hard work, passion and dedication are dismissed and go unappreciated.

But over the years, Malawi has seen a steady, but remarkable progress in modelling. The numbers of female models continue to rise with men also coming up, giving the career more than a try.

From her first appearance, it has been a dream come true for model Alinafe Chalunda. And it looks promising that every event she has participated in has not only made Malawi known, but it has cemented her reputation on the fashion scene.

And this time, Chalunda will glide on the world modelling scene to fly the Malawi flag as a participant to this year’s Miss Heritage pageantry.

The pageant, established by Sipiti Media from Zimbawe and E Planet Nepal, will be held for the second time this year.

Sipiti Media was founded by Culvin Mavunga, who also conducted the Miss Tourism Malawi in 2009 won by Lauretta Twea who later went on to represent Malawi in China at Miss Tourism Queen International.

“We endeavour to create a platform for young women to dedicate their efforts towards sustainable development and encouraging of peace, environmental, tourism, cultural and heritage responsiveness and sustainable behavior in their day today lives,” said Mavunga.

Chalunda, a Lilongwe-based model with vast experience on the runway, will wear the red, green and black Malawi national colours at the event to take place from December 6 to 13 in Chandigarh, India.

Chalunda has been modelling for the past three years. A Miss Colleges contest in 2012 was enough to launch her modelling career, which has seen her doing exceptionally well and rising to be arguably among the country’s top models.

“I have been modelling since 2012, beginning with winning the Miss Colleges where I represented my school, Malawi Institute of Tourism. I was so much into pageantry until I thought of taking modelling as a career and I switched to runway. I have since done a lot of that, including modelling for the inaugural Malawi Fashion Week the following year,” said the soft spoken model.

Other than the fashion week, Chalunda, who boasts of being coached and trained by two international models, has also worked with fashion designers as well as the corporate world.

“I have worked with Lilly Alfonso for whom I have done shoots and modelled her designs. I have also worked with other designers in Malawi, including Felicia Ngoma of the Nyasa Brand, Sadia Mustapha of Mafrika as well as a number of promotional shoots for Moving Minds Multimedia and KIA Motors,” she explained.

The 21-year old business management student at the Malawi College of Accountancy, recently participated in the Malawi Fashion Weekend which was headlined by Ghanaian actor-cum-fashion label owner John Dumelo.

Her self-belief and encouragement were enough motivation to inspire her to give Miss Heritage International a try.

“There was a call for applications to enter the Miss Heritage International beauty contest. I believe I could make it for Malawi and the entire contest but my friends encouraged me to apply and I got accepted,” she said.

She added: “This is a beauty pageant which aims at promoting world heritage and tourism. Some of the goals of the pageant are to promote global awareness in areas such as culture, tourism, environmental issues and preservation, historical and global heritage, relations between countries and world peace.