For 22-year-old Nigerian model Rachel Ojuromi, the streets of Lagos were never just streets. They became her runway, studio and, eventually, the stage from which the world began to notice her.
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Rachel Ojuromi, popularly known as giverachelashot, is now signed to four modelling agencies in New York, Paris, London and Canada.
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The 22-year-old Nigerian model gained attention by turning Lagos streets into her runway with thrifted designer pieces and creative fashion looks.
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Rachel Ojuromi revealed how her journey from creating street fashion videos in Lagos led to international modelling opportunities and SZA’s spotlight.
Ojuromi, popularly known as giverachelashot, has now secured representation with four modelling agencies across four countries: No Smoking NYC in New York, Safe Management Paris, SUPA Worldwide London and her mother agency, Next Canada.
The young model, who has consistently documented her modelling journey online, also revealed how Grammy-winning American singer Solána Rowe, popularly known as SZA, helped put a spotlight on her work and brought her talent to the attention of the international fashion industry.
Before the agency signings, Ojuromi was already turning Lagos streets into her personal catwalk, using thrifted designer pieces, high heels, and her imagination to create fashion content.
She would put the looks together with her stylist, Debby Fasingha, and walk through the streets regardless of her surroundings or how difficult it was to move around in heels.
Rather than allowing limited access to fashion spaces and opportunities to restrict her creativity, Ojuromi used what she had around her.
That persistence eventually drew attention online and moved her closer to the international career she had imagined for herself.
In one of her videos, the model joked that all the top models could not be in Los Angeles, insisting that she was “holding it down in Africa”.
For Ojuromi, however, the street videos were about more than simply creating striking fashion content.
She previously explained that she chose the streets because she did not want money to become a barrier to her creativity.
Her modelling journey was also not planned. Ojuromi revealed that she never initially wanted to become a model because she viewed modelling as a “surface-level career”. She once dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon before studying film and eventually discovering that modelling plays a much deeper role in fashion and visual storytelling.
On what story she hoped her Lagos videos would tell, Ojuromi said, “This is us telling the world that there are kids in Africa absorbing the same influences as everyone else, caring just as deeply about art and fashion, just without all the resources. Despite that, we can make the world shake with what we have.”
Fashion was already part of Rachel’s world from birth. Her mother, who sold clothes and had a natural eye for style, unknowingly introduced her daughter to a world that would later become Rachel’s own.
What began around her in childhood has now taken the 22-year-old from the streets of Lagos to fashion agencies across four major cities.
