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Friday 29 June 2012
COVER GIRLS ON PARADE
COVER
GIRLS PARADE
They are a representation of true African women, big,
bold, beautiful, full of strength and purposeful. They are women who have made
remarkable strides in their various fields of endeavors and proven to be forces
to recon with. They have entertained us in movies, music, comedy, pageantry,
the media and entertainment world in general.
These sisters who are enviable among their peers and role
models to fans and younger generation undoubtedly inspired our 5 editions, in
the last one year of publishing BIG SISTER, they took us way back to their
humble beginning to the days of fame and challenges ahead of them.
Months have passed by, our cover girls are still holding
onto their game, exploring fame and achieving greater heights. In this
anniversary edition BSM recaps our interesting moments with them.
Lepacious
Bose
Olubose Ogunboye aka Lepacioous Bose is one
sister that has been holding it down in the comedy field. In 2009, she won the
best female comedian award in Nigeria. We were proud to have this Theater Arts
graduate/barrister grace our very first edition. In our 3 page interview with
her, one of the things she talked about was her brand in her words; ‘My brand is different because my brand
is natural. My brand is more about myself. I don’t insult people. I don’t go on
stage and make the audience my target. I don’t just sit down and say ‘Bros, see
your head see your nose, see your lips.’ And so my brand does a lot of self
esteem building for big people, because I make fun of it in such a way that you
will not feel bad about yourself anymore after seeing me. It’s like you
telling yourself if someone this big as Lepacious can be this
active, can be this alive, can be this care free about it, then there is
nothing wrong with me. My brand is a way of saying to people that I am who I am
and I am proud of who I am. That is what my brand is all about.’ 
Roselyn
Ngissah
For our 2nd edition, she decided
to spread our sisterly movement to our neigbouring country Ghana and who best
could grace our cover edition if not Roselyn Ngissah, the 2011 best actress in
Ghana award winner for the movie 4 Can Play.
The Krimi
Sisters
They are better known as The Krimi Sisters
and we were proud to have the duo of Franka and Fidelia grace our 3rd
edition. Franka aka Krimi an upcoming performing artist would be remembered to
be the last woman standing during MTN
Project Fame West Africa season2. When BSM asked what her experience was like
in the MTNPF academy, here is what she had to say; ‘Being
the biggest plus sized in the academy then, it was really challenging
because we had the so called slim and
sexy gals with great voices, but I still
stood out and thanks to West Africa for helping me do that, most times I had to
do extra things like dancing and some funny things but I thank God for making
it work for me.’
And for Fidelia who is an ex-plus sized
beauty queen, she had a word of advice for sisters with low self esteem; ‘Fat is not an ailment, be yourself, you may have one thing God has
deposited in you that will bring a change to this great nation. You are
beautiful and lucky to have come as a full option so rock and roll big sis
flaunt it, cause at the end of the day its all about you. It’s your life and
while using your time to stay shy at home, others are moving on. Big is
beautiful. Big is African. Big is actually
Nigerian.’
RELEBOGILE MABOTJA
We continued our sisterly
movement from coast to coast and for our 4th edition, we stopped by
The Sun City where we caught up with South Africa’s sister of many parts RELEBOGILE
MABOTJA, a performing artist, actress, presenter, writer and producer. We were
curious to know what were her challenges that come along side fame, hear her; ‘Privacy
can be a bit of an issue at times. Contrary to what some may believe, I can be
very shy in public and around people I don’t know. Can be uncomfortable and its
something I’ll never get used. The great thing is having a platform. I am able
to say something and have people listen. I can bring a voice to great causes
and things like that make all the ‘disadvantages’ worth it
Diwari
Peterside
Diwari Peterside was
on our cover for the 5th edition. Dee as popularly called another up
coming artist who stood out as a full figured sister during the just continued
Nigerian Idol season2. With her slight resemblance with international act
Adele, BSM couldn’t help asking if
anyone had ever told her that and surprisingly she said; ‘ Yes! I
got that a lot on the show (Nigerian Idol)
especially from my fellow contestants. I think it's because we are both big and
in love with false lashes. I absolutely LOVE Adele. I've covered her songs so
much on my gigs I almost believe they're mine now. Her music is soulful and her
voice is to die for.’They graced our back page. They were our very own plus size model.
BIG SISTER MAGAZINE ENDORSEMENTS
Uwem (FACE OF BSM)
Emilyn(a curvy fan)
Coco(right) & Roslyn (Ghana actress middle)
Roslyn & a fan
Otu (2011 best male model in Nigeria)
Eric
Lizzy
Mary-collete
Jessica
Adeline Taiwo
Elsie
One year of BIG SISTER Magazine's work space...visualizing the future.
Time pass has undoubtedly witness the birth of different
magazines with various concepts of either being flair, events etc. but big sister magazine broke the norm by becoming Nigeria’s premiere life style
magazine packaged for the special interest of the curvy and plus size sisters
with features on health, fitness, diet, fashion, boost of self esteem ,
personality interview, entertainment and lots more. With 5 editions in one year, Elsie-coco (CEO/FOUNDER
BSM) and Naomi Wilson (brand coordinator) recounts the inspiration behind the
brand, journey so far and future plans. Enjoy.
Elsie: When I made up my mind that I was going to publish a
magazine of my own, it was important that I had a concept of my own; I didn’t
want the magazine to come out to be like another version of what was already on
the stands. I wanted something to be identified with, a brand. I needed to
be a first class version of myself in my own little was and then grow from
there, so I was like, what is this magazine that I would love to see on the
stands that I am yet to see? One of my major challenges I had as at then was weight
control and so the idea just hit. Already, I was tired of reading
the same old things from various regular magazines. I remember reading a
funny caption from a column (supposedly dedicated to the plus sized) from a
magazine, and it read something like; ‘FAT
IS UGLY!’ And I felt that was rather a mean caption that could kill the
self esteem of any plus sized sister who was about reading, no matter how
useful the content was. So I was like, let me package
something for the very curvy and fuller figure sisters out there and I
could only achieve that through BIG
SISTER. That was how the idea came about.
BSM : What was the reception like when BIG SISTER came out?
Elsie:
Big Sister Magazine happens Nigeria’s premiere lifestyle magazine for the curvy and plus
sized sisters. We’ve been able to break away from that normal norm of being
just an any other publication. The reception I would say has been very warm and
encouraging. We are just a year and yet it looks as if we’ve been there for
years. Any where we go, people ask the same question which is, why didn’t anyone
think of a concept for this before now? We’ve
been a voice that represents the plus size women in the society and like I keep
saying, I’d like to think of Big Sister as a forum where the plus size sisters
in the society can shine, feel free to express themselves and be edgy as well.
Anywhere we go, the reception has been the same. Special thanks to all the
fans. Already we have over a thousand fans on our 3 facebook pages and twitter.
BSM : How wide is the reach of BIG SISTER Magazine?
Elsie: Big Sister is available
in Nigeria, Ghana and in the USA. We are also available online via www.bigsistermagazine.blogspot.com for fans to read from any part of the world that they may be.
BSM : How do you want people to feel after reading BIG SISTER Magazine?
Elsie: I like them to feel in total control of themselves, I want
them to have a high self esteem, they should be trendier in their dressing.
Their weight should no longer control them but rather should be in their
control. For my plus size readers, I want them to know also that every feature
is not to spite them, if every other flair magazine does that, Big Sister will
be there to encourage them-a shoulder to lean on, like how big sisters do.
BSM : What is it like running BSM brand and your challenges encountered in the last one year?
Elsie: It has been
challenging because it has taken all my time and attention and often times I
can’t think of anything else but BSM. It has become an addiction. Each day, new inspirations come and I can’t
wait to explore them. Generally people are not so receptive to the plus size
community, I found that out from people who have been in the industry before
me, and BSM is here to change that perception, with time, we will prove that. Running
a brand like this is about being open to advice from people who are not afraid
to tell you the truth. It’s about watching and learning from mistakes, it’s
about borrowing ideas from sister brands.
BSM : Body acceptance is a huge subject among the plus size community - what is your personal story and your advice about loving yourself, soul, body and mind?
Elsie: We cant all be a size O, we were all created differently in
a unique way. My advice is that we just be ourselves. Don’t live your life
under cheap publicity of media and peer influence. Love you, cause if you
don’t, some people out there will help you hate it the more. Flesh too is beauty. If you love your body,
you will take good care of it, eat right, dress well and exercise, yes you can
be FAT AND FIT.
BSM: Visualize BSM in the next 5 years.
Elsie: Already we are establishing a plus size stable in Africa.
In the last one year, we have partnered with brands within and outside Africa
that share are vision and for us. This has made us relevant in the growing
industry. There are a whole not of plans
we have for the brand, some we will achieve before 5 years, some might take
longer but in the next 5 years, the whole BIG SISTER ENTERTAINMENT Media will
become an empire that will consist of not just print media, already we are
about to start floating our radio program to follow by television productions.
Our fashion line is coming up soon so fans have a lot to watch out for.
Naomi Wilson (brand coordinator)
BSM: How long have you been with BIG SISTER Magazine?
Naomi: I’ve been with Big
Sister right from inception.
BSM : How has the journey been so far in the last one year?
Naomi: Big Sister has been fun, exciting and fulfilling. Fulfilling in the sense that we are doing what
we wanted to do, not deviating from our initial concept. The whole Big Sister brand has open so many
doors of opportunity for us, it has given us access or pass word to a whole lot
of personalities celebrities and non celebrities. We’ve had cause to network
with other plus size brands, we’ve mingled and made friends with great people
from all works of life. Any where we go, people appreciate what we do and
always want to identify with the brand. This comes with hard work anyway and at
the same time, we wont take the credits, we give it to God, Almighty. So, the
journey has been worth it and we have no cause to regret because we are heading
somewhere which is the top.
BSM : Which are the brands that BSM has partnered with in the last one year?
Naomi: We’ve partnered with
a whole lot of brands in the last one year. The first being our mother network
which is The International Fuller Woman
Network based in Detroit, USA. Back home in Nigeria we were part of their 5th
edition MISS BIG WORLD Nigeria, NAY et Kay is also a brand that
deals with plus size and they are our
proud partners too. We were part of the Adaora
Couture launch May this year, a plus size fashion line of one of Nigeria’s
finest plus size actress. Recently we just conducted a plus size model search for
JPKINGDOM another plus size fashion
line, BSM was part of the launch last month. We are also in partnership with PLUS FAB another plus size clothing
line by Ouma Tema in South Africa. Currently we just got into partnership with MISS ENDOWED AFRICA an initiative of
Kenneth Okolie, ex-Mr Nigeria. Gradually, we’ll get there.
BSM: What are the future plans for the brand?
Naomi: For
now, we are keen about our upcoming launching which is the most important thing
for us now. Over the last one year, we have contributed to the growth of other
brands new and existing. We have studied the plus community terrain and we are
ready to give BSM a launch. We are marking our one year anniversary with the
launch of our radio show ie BIG SISTER E-RADIO Show that’ll come up any moment
from now. Soon, we’ll go into TV productions and other products will be
launched as well.
BSM : What are your plans for the launch of BIG SISTER Magazine.
NAOMI: For
now we yet to pick a date, still dropping proposals to brands to be part of it
but hopefully we will launch it before the year comes to an end, we want to
make it an exquisite event that our fans will be part of. High lights of launch will include the official unveiling of
The Face of BIG SISTER brand and our fashion line BIG SISTER Couture, we’ll also
be giving out awards of recognition to individuals that have made great impact
in the plus size industry. These and a lot more.
BSM : Body acceptance is a huge subject among the plus size community - what is your personal story and your advice about loving yourself, soul, body and mind?
Naomi: I don’t think there is hardly any plus size sister that
doesn’t have issues with her weight,
I’ve had mine but I think the most important thing is for us to keep our heads
high up because big too can be sexy. We need to develop a good self confidence,
look sleek and smart, eat right and cultivate and active life style.
BSM: Last word to fans of BIG SISTER Magazine?
PICTURES FROM OUR WORK SPACE
Founder/CEO BSM Elsie-coco(in blue) Brand cordinator BSM Naomi Wilson (in stripes)in the offices
THE EXCLUSIVE LAUNCH OF JPKINGDOM, AN ONLINE PLUS SIZE CLOTHING LINE.
HOW IT ALL WENT DOWN AT THE JPKINGDOM.COM
Then there was a session for questions and answers from invited men of the press and both the C.E.O and brand MD Adesola Akindele of the firm willingly gave answers. Later on during the event, Naomi Wilson gave a brief talk on what the Big Sister brand was all about and she showed presented them some printed copies of the magazine and then unveiled the three plus size models of Jennifer, Folakemi and Chioma who had won the “JPKINDOM’s Spot The Curvy Campaign” that Big Sister Magazine had organized for JPKINGDOM through the social networks. There was also a session of questions and answers from the pressmen of both print and electronic.
Temi with the press
JPK team (L) Sola & 2nd (L)Temi 2nd (R) Naomi & (R) Richard of BSM
Later in the week there was a road show conducted in Shoprite Mall, Lekki and Silverbird Galleria, V/I in which the 3curvy winners and other plus size models were a part of.
On the 8th of June, there was a private Masquerade Ball at Terrakulture V/I Lagos with dress code of Black and White. It was an exclusive event that started with a black carpet session for invited guest, some dance group entertained as well. The climax of the entertainment was the performance by one of Nigeria’s fast rising star Davido. Guests were highly treated to both African and continental dishes with Champagne to wine down.
Two other events took place after the Masquerade Ball which was a Public Launch Event still at Galleria and JPK Boudoir Party in Ikeja.
BSM congratulates JPK for the successful launch.
Temi's opening speech
Sola
Plus model on the Run way
Elsie-coco(middle) flagged by Folakemi & Chioma
Temi & Sola cutting the cake
Elsie, Naomi & Folakemi with friend
Elsie-coco & Naomi
Thursday 28 June 2012
ADVERTISE AND SUBSCRIBE TO BIG SISTER MAGAZINE
And if you own a product or brand, be it for the
plus size or any kind that you wish to circulate, take advantage of our wide readership and network and unmask your product.you too can be part of this event.
For further information, call 08064233383 or send a mail to
bigsistermag@gmail.com
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