Chronicle Editor
Rumbidzai Mhlanga, Sunday Life Reporter
THE love for what he does is what makes him more focused and keeps him going besides all that is said out there.
Male model Pardon Khaya-elihle Khanye started his modelling career in 2007 at the age of 16 when he was still a student at Sizane High School.
“Well, my modelling career started when I won Mr Pelandaba in 2007, a local pageant that was done annually and since then I never looked back.
My talent was discovered and groomed by Talent Mpofu who was an assistant teacher at Fingers Academy where I was groomed till I graduated.
“Being a model was not part of the plan, I actually wanted to be a nurse but all my plans changed when I ventured into modelling, from then I focused on modelling and arts.
I then studied Arts, film and theatre in South Africa that however, made me a professional arts person,” he added.
The male model related to this publication his achievements as well as challenges.
“I have won a couple of awards in the modelling sector, both locally and nationally.
I won Mr Bulawayo Junior then I went on to win Mr Zimbabwe junior in 2010, I was also signed as teen face of Meikles.
From then I have managed to model in big fashion shows in many African, I have done shows in Ghana, Namibia, South Africa and Botswana only to mention a few.
“In 2013 I then decided to take my career to a further level, that’s when I hung my stage shoes and started being a model groomer and model pageant choreographer.
I started with Lupane State University and since then I have managed to be almost every university and colleges’ model choreographer. I have also done a lot of pageants as a choreographer around Africa.
My greatest achievement is winning an award as the Best Outstanding Model Choreographer at 2017/18 Arts Achievers Awards in Botswana.
“Like any other job in any industry, there are a lot of challenges.
As a male model groomer it is not easy as I get to be called a lot of names and labelled in a lot of funny ways in the community.
I have been labelled as a gay person once and some say I am a pervert but at the end of the day it’s all about passion and love to the industry you are in,” he continued.
He shared with Sunday Life his future plans.
“I have now started a Foundation for the disabled as a form of giving back to the community.
It is under the name “I am Khaya Foundation” and I work at Open Eye Studio.
It is not a secret that I am working on starting my own modelling school but it is something that will be opened in a year or so, the rumours about me starting an agency are true but I will launch it when I am ready,” he said.
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