Today we’d like to introduce you to Nyoka Ward.
Hi Nyoka, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I’ve been modeling since I was about 11 years old, starting with professional acting and modeling classes with JRP (John Robert Powers). I didn’t come from the most fortunate family, and we couldn’t take my auditions out of state with 5+ children in the home. So, through my childhood, I would take countless selfies, put on fashion shows for my parents, and even design clothes for my life-sized Barbie with my Bratz doll sewing machine. Once I was 18, I took matters into my own hands and I began freelance modeling, working with amazing photographers and being able to meet so many new models and performers! I’ve been published numerous times in magazines, and I’ve been featured in runway shows with Aveda Inst. and KissedByBo boutique. I’ve had shots printed and put in classrooms and coffee shops around Columbus. I’ve been featured in Haunted Hoochie and The Garden advertisement. I have been in multiple body empowerment photoshoots and hope to spread self-love awareness through my company. I am currently working as a marketing and advertising company but hope to expand into talent management in the near future.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It absolutely has not been a smooth road, I’m just over my one-year hump of being a new business owner, and it’s a lot more to chew through than I thought. I didn’t take out any business loans or hire a big team to help me put it all together, which probably would’ve been helpful. I am still working every day trying to make my company a household name and a brand you can trust. I’m a natural-born introvert with a lot of great ideas to make the world a better place, but that means learning to ask for help when I need it and knowing when too much is too much to handle.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I do mostly model and acting for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Just this year I picked up marketing and advertising or “behind the scenes” stuff for some small business owners in the Columbus area, helping with logo designs, advertising ideas, new menus or flyers, etc. I am most known for modeling in the fashion industry, I have created quite a name for myself in Columbus, and home to only expand that reach. I am most proud of the relationships I’m able to create between other entrepreneurs. Setting photographers and models up, helping find new places and ideas to bring to the table. I like everyone I work with to know when they’re working with me; I’m 100% dedicated to the same goal and outcome they’re after, if not more. I always leave a great friendship at the end of the day, even if we stop doing business together.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
PLAN. PLAN. PLAN. I went into the pandemic thinking it would be easy cause I had free time and some extra money, but it is CONSTANT work to bring yourself up from the ground, especially in a pandemic.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Nyoka.Latte_llc
- Facebook: Nyoka Latte LLC
Image Credits
@some_ohio_guy
@mx.gay_photography
@gardenonhigh
