This is the maiden edition of the stylereine interview series. It is a medium to share with you, the thoughts and lifestyles of fashfreaks around us. So our very first guest is a very beautiful Nigerian ex-beauty queen. She is the winner of Miss Nigerian Teen 2012/2013, she became a queen as a teenager and she's here to give us a brief look into her life, thoughts and experiences. So, please do stay with us.

Tell us about you

My name is Ikedinma Favour Chidera. I'm from Abia State, Nigeria. A graduate of University of Abuja, B.Sc Biology. I'm an entrepreneur and I currently have an active hair website, I'm working on a lot of things which you will get to know in a short while and I am a lover of God.

Talk us through your jobs and all what you did to get here.

I'm not even there yet, lol. I'm still taking baby steps. I'm pretty young as well but I happen to be one of the young women in Nigeria who admire a reasonable level of independence for women. Also I'm lucky to be raised by hardworking women like my mum and my elder sister. They are my motivation and all what I did to get here is to have a dream and back it up with hardwork, which is gradually becoming a reality. With God by my side, I know I won't sweat it to get to the top.


We know you are Miss Nigeria Teen 2012/2013, what was the experience like?

It was worth it, trust me. The feeling is something I can't even talk about because it was too good to be true. Meeting prominent people, doing charity works, going into some places with so much protocol with ease lol, people telling you that you are their role model and the list goes on. The most interesting part is that I focused on skill perfection and talent discovery for young citizens of Nigeria. The crown made me Miss Nigeria Teen but my love for humanity, decency, charisma, respect and love made me a queen from birth.


What was your greatest lesson from the pageantry?

 I learnt that the pressure we put on ourselves can be our greatest enemy. A lot of pressure can make you end up doing the wrong things. The best rule of thumb I have found is to be genuine, be honest with who you are and how you think, and what you represent.

A lot of Nigerian families do not support modeling, how did your family react to your decision to be a model?

 I come from a strong Christain home and my parents chose to see my vision with me, believed and trusted me and they also saw the positive side of modeling, and thay decided to support me in every way they could do it. It's shocking that uptil now some people still see modeling from a negative perspective. It has to do with the individual, your reason for going into modeling and what you want to get out of it. I see modeling as a process of teaching by example, it can teach you how to interact, groom yourself and how to react to stress or fear. Everyone in my family played a role and they made sure it didn't get in the way of my academics.

You recently started a hairline, please tell us about it.

Most people assume women wear wigs and weaves because we don't love and appreciate our natural hair. The reason why women wear wigs is to protect our natural hair. Not every woman in a wig is bald or has bad hair underneath. That is why I got motivated to start De Peluca Collection, "the wig collection" to bring affordable, natural gorgeous wigs to protect the natural hair from everyday stress of hot combs and chemicals. You can check out the website
http://www.depelucacollection.com/

It is common belief that most beauty queens lose their relevance after their tenure, what do you think about this and how has it affected you?

I think, once a queen will always and forever be a queen. Your value and visions didn't go with the crown except you were never a queen with a vision and passion in the first place. My one year tenure was a starting point and platform for me to be heard and contribute to my country  and after my tenure, I decided to expand on this passion , so I started to build. I don't know the peoples defintion of relevance because I know personally that I'm very relevant to my generation and they have not seen anything yet because a better version of me with a better experience is coming up and will mentor the upcoming young queens on the right part to thread.

What's your personal style? What will people point out and say "that's Favour's thing!"?

The side part kind of hair, a barbie like dress and heels or denim pants. People close to me know I love a classy look.

Who's your style icon?

My only sister Joy.

What's your biggest style mistake?

Wearing a trend that didn't fit my style.

On a final note, please tell us what keeps you going.

The thing that keeps me going is answering the question, "why am I doing this?"  I then try to remember the dreams and imaginations, then I get connected to the original vision.

Thank you very much Favour for sharing with us. You can follow her on Instagram @miss_derezy. Ladies, contact her for your affordable wigs on http://www.depelucacollection.com/

Remain Stylish
Love, Sharon