5 Things You Need To Know About 67-Year-Old Fenty Model JoAni Johnson
Whoever told you it was too late to follow your dreams was a damn lie, and Rihanna's latest handpicked Fenty model, 67-year-old JoAni Johnson, is proof of this fact. After walking on the runway for the very first time only two years ago, the recently widowed supermodel is taking the taking the fashion industry by storm and living a life with no regrets.
Although JoAni had always wanted to be a model, she never imagined that her dreams would come to fruition when she was a retired mother of an adult daughter, but God works in mysterious ways. One day, while taking a walk in the park with her late husband, JoAni was approached by an Allure employee who captured her in a video that would later go viral and changed her life forever. Since garnering over a million views after her street style video feature in the publication, the Harlem-born hero has been securing the bag in a major way by working with industry giants like Eileen Fisher, Tome, Chris Peters, and now, Rihanna.
Now, able to tell her story and the stories of other women who have been discriminated against based on race, age, or sex, JoAni isn't taking any sh*t, and behind those silver strands of strength lie a world of love, pain, and perseverance that she refuses to let the world ignore.
Here's everything you need to know about this 67-year-old savage who's taking on the fashion industry one runway at a time:
5.Joani Johnson's Late Husband Is Her Inspiration
Having money, time, and resources is definitely important when launching a career, but the most important thing to have is your "why". It's important to ask yourself why you get up in the morning and work hard, or why do you refuse to give up, because in those moments you don't feel like getting out of bed and you do feel like giving up, this will certainly come in handy. For JoAni, her "why" was her late husband of over 20 years who inspired her to let the Allure representative film her in the first place.
"I didn't want to. But my husband said, 'C'mon, let her take the photo.' I asked my husband first and, again, he said, 'Go ahead, just try it.' I didn't know what they wanted. I was semi-retired and working on my tea blending business."
She explained that while he was alive, the best part about walking the runway was seeing him on the sidelines cheering her on, and I'm not crying, you're crying. After his death, JoAni continues to live out her dream in his honor because according to her, he will always be her reason. She told Refinery 29:
"All of this is for him. My husband was the most wonderful man I could ever imagine. There are so many times that I know that he's with me. On my last shoot, for example, they put on a song that was something that we used to listen to together — I knew that he was there."
4.Her Mother Was A Jamaican Immigrant
Nobody knows discrimination in this country like a person with brown skin, and this was especially true for JoAni's mother, who was an immigrant from Jamaica. The model explained that it was her mother's perseverance that inspired her to press on despite critics of her age.
"I think of my mom, she's 90 years old, and when she came here from Jamaica she couldn't get a job because they said her accent was too thick….We've faced a lot of challenges, We all make it through. I consider it a blessing for everyday that we make it through."
3.JoAni Is Only 5'4'' In Height
I'm no modeling agent, but I'm almost positive that the standard for a runway model is tall, slim, all breaks, and no curves. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, this stigma was also present. There was only one perception of what a model should look like and it didn't look like Jo, and it ultimately led her to give up her dream altogether.
"If you would have asked me if this would be part of my life today, I would have said no way. When I was younger I wanted to model desperately, but at the time the rules were so stringent, I was up against the Pat Clevelands and Beverly Johnsons of the world, and it didn't happen because I didn't meet the height requirement…So I ended up working in showrooms and so forth. I worked in the fashion industry for 13 years and eventually left."
But thanks to brands like Fenty, who prove that inclusivity is more than a trend, JoAni finally has her shot. Don't call it a comeback.
2.She Worked As A Receptionist Before Retirement
With timeless beauty and charm like JoAni's, a woman could sell ice to an eskimo; or in her case, get a job as a receptionist even though you never learned to type. After leaving her job in the corporate fashion industry, JoAni made an attempt to jump back into the workforce. To her surprise, a lot had changed since she was in school. She explained:
"Every place I went to, they'd ask me, 'Can you type?' And I couldn't type. When I was growing up, my mom said, 'Do not learn how to type! If you learn how to type, that's the only job they're gonna put you in. You don't wanna be a typist.' So I never learned how to type. I said, What am I gonna do?"
A setback is just a set up for a come-up, and JoAni knew this when she went back to school to learn how to type her ass off.
"But then I said, I know what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna be the best damn receptionist they've ever seen. And I was."
1.Steeping Hot Tea Is Her Passion
Along with being an international supermodel, JoAni has another riveting passion in her life: blending tea. The Fenty model dove into her craft 15 years ago by hosting afternoon tea parties while still working her corporate job in New York and became a certified tea blender in 2006.
Featured image by Johnny Nunez/WireImage
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Taylor "Pretty" Honore is a spiritually centered and equally provocative rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a love for people and storytelling. You can probably find me planting herbs in your local community garden, blasting "Back That Thang Up" from my mini speaker. Let's get to know each other: @prettyhonore.
From Heartbreak To Healing: The Multifaceted Journey Of Nazanin Mandi
Nazanin Mandi is never out of options.
About a year ago, the 37-year-old life coach and actress was navigating life after divorce and determined to experience homeownership for the first time as a single woman. She’d been married to the R&B singer Miguel for three years, following a long-term relationship that started when she was 18 years old. But, in 2022, she filed for divorce. It was certainly the most public change she made but, in reality, it was just one of many decisions to refocus and reach her full potential in recent years.
“During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been,” she says in an xoNecole exclusive.
Still, as Mandi worked to get to know herself and her needs during this new phase of life, she realized the home she’d purchased wasn’t a good fit. Overwhelmed by the echoing of her voice in the spacious home, she had a breakdown and called her cousin, who immediately suggested she lease the home and live somewhere else. “I woke up in my house, and I was like, ‘This is not it for me,” she says. “All those years, I had been accustomed to living a certain way [and] in a certain house, so I bought myself a house like [my old home]. But my family was not the same. Waking up in that house by myself, it highlighted the divorce. I was like, ‘Oh, no, we can’t do this. This is not it.’ My life has changed, so my choices need to change.” At that moment, Mandi became open to the idea that there wasn’t one set way to achieve ownership on her own.
“I feel so much better. I’m in a smaller place. My best friend lives a minute from me and I can walk to her house,” she tells me during a Zoom interview from her home one recent afternoon in early February. In the past two years, she hasn’t just been advising other people on varying circumstances, she’s also been healing herself.
"During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been."
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If supporters began following Nazanin Mandi because of her conventional beauty or the contagious, bright, white smile she often wears in many of her photos, that’s likely not the reason they’ve stuck around. Instead, she’s amassed a following based on her transparency about her own anxiety and depression, along with the encouraging messages of self-acceptance, gratitude, ambition, and humility that are often sprinkled into her social media posts.
In an era where looking at Instagram photos of models can often lead to feelings of self-doubt and insecurity, Nazanin Mandi is determined to be more than eye candy. She’s food for her follower’s souls, too.
Since being recruited to model while dining at an In-N-Out at 10 years old, Mandi has worked in many areas of entertainment. The Valencia, California native has modeled for brands such as Olay, Savage X Fenty, and Good American. As a teen, she sang at Carnegie Hall and auditioned for season 1 of American Idol, making it all the way to Hollywood before producers disqualified her for lying about her age. (Mandi was 15 at the time, and contestants had to be at least 16 years old.) Mandi has acted, too, including appearing on Disney’s That’s So Raven as a teenager and on the BET+ series Games People Play and the Prime series Á La Carte in more recent years.
In recent years, though, she’s also expanded her professional goals outside of entertainment, too. After becoming a certified life coach in 2020, Mandi launched the membership platform You Bloome in 2022 with the hopes of providing wellness services to others, including her self-published gratitude journal. “I wish I had access to something like You Bloome earlier in my own life,” she writes on the company’s website. The actress, who has been forthcoming about her struggles with anxiety and depression, has never had a life coach, but credits therapy as a tool that “really, really saved me and it laid the foundation to who I am becoming.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
"I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself."
While she’s always had a nurturing personality, Mandi says her interest in becoming a life coach was inspired by the women who would message her for advice on social media. “I would answer them back. It really sparked a fire within myself to help people,” she says.
You Bloome currently has three membership tiers, ranging in price from $2.99 to $39.99 per month. The highest tier offers a motivational text message twice a week, two live, group coaching sessions per month, and more. “We get emotional. We cry. We laugh. It’s really beautiful. I’ve built close relationships with my members through this. It’s been inspiring both ways,” Mandi says of the sessions. Still, the founder says she hopes to take on more motivational and keynote speaking opportunities in the future with the hopes of impacting as many people as possible.
And, she’s hoping to do all of this while continuing to explore a career as an entertainer.
At this point in her life, Mandi says she’s gained enough perspective on modeling, music, and acting to realize what she wants to prioritize moving forward. “We are going full force with acting,” she says, noting her goal is “to book a series regular or a film that impacts my career and the world.” She plans to continue to model, too, but has no desire to pursue music.
“I don’t want any part of that because I know what that life entails,” she says. “I don’t want to tour. I don’t want to do any of that. That is not where my heart is at.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If you ask Mandi, she’ll tell you she feels most comfortable in front of a camera, but she’ll also admit that she’s recently experienced a lot of imposter syndrome when thinking about her acting career. “I think it’s a fear of not succeeding,” she says. If anything, she adds, she’s harder on herself now than she’s ever been. “There were distractions before. There’s no distractions now,” she says. “I’m putting pressure on myself for no reason.”
This is where the life coach’s own personal healing comes into play. Mandi says she’s learning recently that “slow progress is still big progress at the end of the day.”
“Currently, I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself,” she adds.
Still, one of Mandi’s strengths is that she doesn’t feel the pressure to limit herself to just one passion. From working as a life coach to pursuing acting, she has given herself grace to explore all other dreams.
“We can be allowed to be many different things in this lifetime,” she says. “As people, our identities are allowed to expand. Don’t put us in a fucking box. I cannot live that way anymore.”
For more of Nazanin, follow her on Instagram @nazaninmandi.
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Featured image by Solmaz Saberi
'Raising Kanan''s Hailey Kilgore Talks Seeing Herself In Jukebox & Broadway Background
Hailey Kilgore, who has brought the character Jukebox to life on Power Book III: Raising Kanan for the past three seasons, was working hard in show business long before landing the role on coveted Starz franchise. She's already a Tony- and Grammy-nominated talent whose credits include the Jennifer Hudson-led Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and the Tony-winning revival of Once on This Island.
Hailey may play a teen on the Mekai Curtis-centered series but she's been training in singing, acting, and performance since the tender age of 9—that's 16 years now. If you take a look at her social media profiles, it will almost make you do a double take as her real personality couldn't be further from what's depicted on the show—proving just how talented she really is. The Broadway veteran, who is gearing up to release her first album, is what many would describe a girl's girl wearing loads of sequins, gowns, and serving face!
This will prompt you to dig a little deeper to find out more about the girl who is a multi-hyphenate and earned two major nominations before even making it on the big screen.
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xoNecole caught up Hailey as season 3 came to an end and was surprised to learn that although they may be completely different people, her real life is mirroring what's going on with Jukebox in Raising Kanan. "I really made the epiphany season 3." She continued, "[Jukebox] just wants to be seen. She works so hard, she's a really sweet girl. She has a beautiful spirit and she just wants people to see her—to see how hard she works. I feel that right now. I'm like, please just see me. I know you love Jukebox...but there's a super cool girl in here and she's got a lot to say. A lot to contribute to the world artistically."
She even delved more into her background, telling us about the extensive training and hard work she's put in to get to this point. "I started training when I was 9. I trained in acting, singing, and performance." She further explained, "I did my first job when I was 12, so I've been doing this for awhile. Performing is what I love. I've always said I wanted to be Beyoncé when I grew up...I'm really blessed to have the resume and the background that I do."
The latest season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan has come to a close but in true fashion, Hailey is still hard at work. Her first single "Drama Queen" is out now and her debut album will be released on May 3. It's safe to say that Hailey is having her moment. One can't deny that she's worked hard for it and we can't wait to see what's next!
Watch the full interview below.
Hailey Kilgore AKA Jukebox on 'Raising Kanan' Talks Broadway Background
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