Name: Paje Pokjowy

Age: 28

Place of birth: Toronto, ON Canada

Current residence: Niagara Falls, ON Canada

My father is of Ukrainian and English descent and my mother is English. I used to love dancing when I was a little girl so from the age of two I took regular jazz and ballet classes. My fondest memory is of my family coming to my annual dance recitals and greeting me with a huge bouquet of flowers after my performance.

I wake up as soon as my three year old son Preston gets up and we start the day by watching cartoons together. I am very fortunate that I get to spend so much time with him because of the flexibility I have as a professional make-up artist.

When it comes to Bridal make-up weekends are my busiest days. I love hearing and seeing the reaction of a Bride when she sees herself in the mirror for the first time. When their eyes light up and they have that ear to ear smile, I know that I’ve done my job in helping them look and feel beautiful on one of the most important days of their life.

The best part of being a woman for me is being a mother. I didn’t know how much love a person could have for another human being until I had my son.

My advice to other women would be to go after what you want, no matter what. Don’t be afraid of the unknown, rejection, or the possibility of being hurt. If you want something, the only way of getting it is to go out and make it happen!

I am a ComplexdWoman because I strive to be offbeat and unique. I don’t like conforming to what’s considered normal or the current trend. It’s in my nature to be different.

Before I conceptualised Complexd, I did a lot of research and reading about the stereotypical standards of beauty in our society. Complexd was always about breaking the beauty ideals that were continuously being reinforced in visual media. When it came to my dissertation, I decided to focus on a specific standard of beauty, which caused women to bleach their skin.

My research, which looked at Slavery, Socialisation, Feminism and Colour Supremacy lead me to the term Colourism, which defines individuals who believe they are superior or inferior to people of their own race because of their complexion. I read some extremely insightful books during my dissertation and photographs taken by Barbadian photographer Alyson Holder ignited a lot of the unanswered questions I still have about the topic.

Alyson recently unveiled a series of portraits at the ArtSplash gallery in Barbados that evoked questions surrounding beauty and complexion. Her aim was to encourage women to love themselves as they are and not wish to be or look like someone else.

If you are still struggling with your identity, beauty and your body I highly recommend Naked by Ayana Byrd and Akiba Solomon. Although it focuses on black women, it’s a must read of all women. It was and still is one of the most empowering books I’ve read!

“The only thing as torturous as holding a standard of beauty you can never fully achieve is holding a standard of consciousness that is sometimes impossible to maintain.” Asali Solomon

Portrait by Merve Hasman

My father is from Guyana and my mother is Trinidadian. They both decided to remain in UK, but present in my upbringing was a bit of everything. We had the best of British, Guyanese and Trinidadian culture, which has given me a broader outlook on life. My siblings and I are all very close in age and I always wonder how my mum managed it. I am my parents third child; I have two older sisters and a younger brother, who was my partner in crime.

Nadira on the far left 

My alarm can go off at any time depending on the day ahead; for commercial work I am often up at 5am, for photo-shoots 7am and on rare days off or when I’m working from home I have a little lie in to as late as 9am. Being Coeliac means I have to avoid gluten and certain grains so in the mornings I have my special bread with a slice of meat and black Italian coffee. I can’t be as stylish as I want to because I always get make-up all over my clothes so I would describe my style as comfortable casual and a bit anti fashion.

Photographed by Karan Kapoor/Painted 1/Model Rosie

Art and History have always been my main passions, mainly because they were my strongest subjects at school. After panicking about what to do, I eventually got onto the Theatre Make Up course at the renowned London College of Fashion, which supplied me with in-depth knowledge on the history of make-up artistry, cosmetic science and of course, wig-making.

Photographed by Karan Kapoor/Body and Shine/ Model Shumi

This was good grounding, but the shock of how big the industry was lowered my self-esteem. I wasn’t sure whether I was cut out to be a make-up artist, but I soldiered on sometimes with no money and lack of self-belief.

Photographed by Caroline Molloy/My signature look/Model Karen

Eventually, the momentum began to build when I started to get recommended for jobs and I progressed gradually. Even though I didn’t follow the usual pattern of assisting lots of other make-up artist I survived and strongly believe there is no strength where there is no struggle.

I do both fashion, advertising and publicity work such as working on commercials, videos and with celebrities. I made up the face of Gordon Ramsey who is such a gentleman and not the hot-tempered man on TV, at least not when I’ve worked with him.

Women are multifaceted and intriguing specimens. Make-up artist can be stereotyped as girly, high maintenance or quick to judge, but I am far from it. I am a believer in enhancing what you have if you want too, it’s your choice. The best thing I ever told myself was to be comfortable in my own skin. Own it, wear it and be it!

I am a ComplexdWoman because I am an average woman among much greatness and its so nice be comfortable with that and not ask for any more or any less.

www.nadiramakeup.com
www.nadiramakeupmistress.com

Mission Catwalk is a reality TV series set in Jamaica aimed at discovering and developing talented fashion designers. The show recently announced the winner of it’s second series, which was opened up to designers across the Caribbean. The design drama that each episode entails has raised its profile and the show has gained popularity across the Caribbean. We ask Executive Producer and Host Keneea Linton-George about the overall mission.

Why did you launch Mission Catwalk and what’s it all about?

I launched Mission Catwalk in March 2011 on Jamaica’s popular news and entertainment channel TVJ as a means to promote local fashion designers. I wanted to provide them with the opportunity to gain international exposure and additional support, training and funding.

Design by Gregory Williams winner of Season 2 – judged by resident judges Novia McDonald-Whyte and Carlton Brown

Winner season 1 Shena Carby (L) Keneea-Linton-George and Winner season 2 Gregory Williams (R)

But you are also a fashion designer?

Yes, and I still am, but my passion for the industry goes beyond creating garments for my clients. I’ve been involved in TV productions and designing simultaneously for the past four years so I decided to use my skills and resources to produce a show that would promote and build the local fashion industry. The response to Mission Catwalk has been overwhelming. Jamaica is very fashion forward and very receptive to a program of this nature.

Keneea receives her applause alongside her sister Kenisha Linton at Caribbean Fashion Week 

Full cast including designers across the region from episode 2

Why have you gone from representing Jamaican designers to designers across the Caribbean?

The pilot season focused on Jamaica simply to test the market and garner support, but it has always been our aim to go Caribbean wide. Having a design competition that included designers across the region gave us a wider pool of talent to choose from and allowed our diverse viewers to identify with the different characters found in the Caribbean. Ultimately we want to promote a unified approach to Caribbean fashion because I believe we can have greater impact as a region.

There are great benefits for winners of the show, was it easy getting support from Government agencies and/or sponsors in Jamaica and other islands?

Garnering support for the first season was challenging however, the success of season one has prompted support from a number of corporate sponsors and Jampro. However, there is still more to be done to attract government support for the industry.

Up-coming designers like Crystal Powell competing in Mission Catwalk had the opportunity to create full collections and showcase them at Caribbean Fashion Week. 

What is the over-all Mission?

The over-all mission is to provide the training, opportunity and exposure needed to allow our Caribbean designers to compete and have a presence in the international market.

Watch episodes of Mission Catwalk here