Candice Wu caught up with Rahab Inghalwa, a model who moved to London to pursue her dreams, to get her story.

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Rahab Inghalwa, and I’m a professional model. So, I do fashion photoshoots and commercial adverts as well as runways.

How did you get into modelling?

So, basically, I started in Namibia, which is my home country, and I really wanted to become a professional model. So, that’s when I moved to the UK just like 2 years ago and it’s really going good.

Why the UK Specifically?

I felt like the UK has more opportunities. There’s more diversity, and I just felt like, yeah, it’s something that… I’ll make it here.

What are some shows or events that you have been a part of so far?

I was in Milan Fashion Week last year, and this year, I worked with Showbiz with Ms. Olga and I just did Top Model last weekend and yesterday, I did a fashion show with Fase di Moda, so it’s really nice. It’s going good.

“EVEN IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER BY LANGUAGE, FASHION WILL MAKE YOU CONNECT”

What does fashion mean to you?

For me, fashion means self-exploration, so it’s more what you feel and what you think you can do to people because I believe fashion can talk to so many people from different worldwide. Even if you don’t understand each other by language, fashion will make you connect. It’s a universal thing.

What keeps you going? Although modelling seems to be really glamorised with the nice clothing, elaborate after- parties, and so on, it is a hard profession.

So, basically, there are so many challenges especially when I started here the first time. I remember one time when I really want to just go back home, and one of my friends, he was like, “Do you really want to stop this when you already started it?” And, every time when I want to give up, I just like hear that word, and I’m like, “No, I’m not going to give up.” And, I should say it has been amazing.

It’s a good thing that you didn’t give up! Is your aim to be in all the top magazines?

Oh yeah! That’s my aim! I really really want to be in Vogue someday. I would like to continue with my modelling career. I would like also to go into business, and I’m definitely planning on going into doing more fashion stuff, like maybe designing. But most importantly, I would like to work with an NGO mostly on gender biased balance or child abuse.

Do you have anything coming up soon or next?

I’ll be shooting a commercial with MC London and after that, I’ll see what the future holds for me.

Find Rahab online: https://www.instagram.com/rahab_the_diva
Images by Ian Clark and via Instagram/Raha