UNT Student Walks the Runways in NYFW

High in a clear New York City sky, a plane is about to touch down the day before New York Fashion Week is set to begin. A young woman is staring out the window, holding her breath as they descend from the clouds.

Is this forreal? she thinks.

She is pinching herself in her seat over and over in disbelief of the recent events that have her landing in the city where dreams are made of.

Halimotu Shokunbi, nicknamed “Halimat” (Ha•LEE•ma), is a 20-year-old junior at the University of North Texas. She’s double majoring in criminal justice and psychology, and only just started her modeling career a year ago by playing around with creative friends.

Now, she is about to audition for a chance of a lifetime to walk the runways for designers in NYFW; the same event that has been graced by celebrity models like Victoria Beckham, Halima Aden and Gigi Hadid.

Rewind back a few weeks, and Shokunbi couldn’t believe the email she’d received randomly one day from a producer of the event. He was inquiring about sponsors for NYFW Bridal this October. Confused, Shokunbi emailed him back stating she couldn’t be a sponsor, but was looking to be a model instead.

The producer then apologized for emailing the wrong person, but invited Shokunbi to send him an email at another address for model inquiries.

“I stayed on it for two or three days, just trying to see what was up. I knew with the email he sent me, I would have been just another model on that email list, so I kept consistent communication with his original one,” said Shokunbi.

Her efforts would pay off when he got back with her after reviewing her modeling portraits on Instagram. Most of her pictures were shot by local Texas photographers.

“I just couldn’t believe it because I had a list of ten goals for myself, and one of them was to walk for New York Fashion Week. So what are the odds of some producer randomly emailing me on accident?” said Shokunbi.

Rewind just a few short months back, and before Shokunbi was gracing the runways of fashion shows, the then 19-year-\old was lost about where she was going in life.

“Nobody knows this, but I legit took a semester off from school, because I was so stressed out and depressed. There were nights where I would cry myself to sleep. I had friends and family, but I just couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t happy.”

Shokunbi, who’s African, reached out to her mother about her depression despite the social stigma that mental health isn’t discussed in the community.

“I’m so thankful for my mom, because she was there and has been here for me all the way. She encouraged me to find my purpose.”

Shokunbi started praying more, and started her own business venture House of Hali selling shades, bundles, lashes and beauty products. She dedicated her time to growing her business, and slowly started coming out of her depression.

“The business kept me busy, but at the end of the day, I started to become stressed out again because of the daily dealings with it. I couldn’t find that balance at the time, and was still asking myself ‘Why am I not happy?’”

Shokunbi would do pop up shops at other schools like Texas State and Sam Houston.

She went back to praying and getting closer to God. In her healing it was revealed to her that she needed to be content in herself. She started to see her blessings more, and she had an epiphany.

“I realized how much of a struggle it was for me to just be alone, but in being alone, I found myself. I am not my business when I go home, I am not NYFW when I go home. I am Halimet, and I have to be content in that.”

Once Shokunbi understood she could gain consistent peace vs momentary happiness, more blessings begin to pour in for her.

She was interviewed by top Dallas news station, WFAA when her viral photoshoot using a trampoline gained attention on social media. Her photographer friend, Daniel Ebonwonyi, came up with the concept to capture her posing in the air.

Supermodel, Tyra Banks even tweeted Shokunbi on the way she was “smizing in the sky.” Banks said that Shokunbi had skills.

Fast forward to NYFW: She would meet the same producer who she’d been corresponding with. He would later become her manager and booking paid work for her for the first time.

The fast paced experience of NYFW was different for Shokunbi since she was a beginner runway model and was only used to her Texas network.

She met different models from around the globe, and during the breaks of the glitz and glam, they’d go out to eat at Times Square.

“Since NYFW is so big, random people would come up to us while we were out on the street to ask for pictures. Even local photographers wanted to shoot us for their own portfolio’s to say they shot a fashion model,” said Shokunbi.

Her days would start early. Around 5:00 a.m. she’d have to be up and ready. She’d go down to the ballroom of a hotel to audition for different designers.

If they chose her, they’d took her measurements and bring pieces for her to fit.

Auditions were back to back for the first five days of NYFW and most of the time, Shokunbi wouldn’t be done until 9:00 p.m.

“There were 49 designers total, and I walked for 47. Every designer, I auditioned for, I walked for.”

Shokunbi worked with makeup artist, Pat McGrath, along with other agencies.

She even auditioned for Marc Jacobs.

“My producer manager had told me I needed to make it to the Marc Jacobs casting at like 3:00 p.m. I was already at another audition, and it was like 2:20 p.m. He had to give me the address and the taxi just to make the opportunity.”

When it came time to finally strut on the runway, Shokunbi was nervous but prayed while getting prepped.

“You had to be ready four hours before any show. So they were doing my makeup, nails and all of that. Even with my hair, since I’m a 4C natural, that took two hours alone and I’m walking between 5:00-10:00 p.m. since that’s when the actual shows happened.”

When it was all said and done the feelings of coming back to Texas were bitter sweet. Shokunbi had missed her family and friends back home, but knew this opportunity would be a small taste of what her life would be like as a professional model.

“In Texas, I thought I was modeling, but in NY, I was MODELING modeling.”

Shokunbi came back to Texas to tell her creative friends about the opportunities out there that she experienced.

Even though she’s represented now, she still models for those same friends who have been there since the beginning.

Now that school has started back, she’s slowed down booking shoots to focus on her studies for the semester. She wants people to know that they should do what makes them happy in this life.

“I’ve had my first paid gig after modeling for how long? This didn’t happen overnight, I worked a long while before getting here. So I say, don’t question God, and everything will fall into place.