The Topic Of Skin Bleaching Leads This Sudanese Girl To Have A Life-Changing Intervention

Going Viral

Nyakim could not believe that such an ignorant man existed so she decided to share her incident on her social media. It was something that she had constantly been dealing with all her life. Her story about “the light-skinned black man” managed to grab her thousands of followers and sympathizers and Nyakim received a lot of good wishes and supportive messages. Now at 24 years of age, the model’s story went viral…

Famous On The Gram

After Nyakim posted her encounter with the racist driver, her Instagram managed to grow to a whopping 347,000 followers. Since she had lived through all these comments, she told her fans that it did not get to her that much anymore. She had better things to worry about in life now, more significant things. Her confidence and self-love became such an inspiration for her followers that they gave her a new nickname…

Her Nickname

Nyakim’s fans gave the model the nickname “The Queen of Dark” and “Melanin Goddess”. She gladly accepted these terms of endearment on her Instagram and would often post and use them as hashtags. Nyakim finally became comfortable in her own skin and was not bothered by the pesky comments anymore. She advised other to also love their individuality and uniqueness. “It takes time to love who you are. If you love yourself other people will see. It will shine through you and then they have the choice to accept you or walk away,” Nyakim suggested.

“Different Melanin”

After Nyakim Gatwech’s story garnered so much social media attention, a shoot called “Different Melanin,” was set up. This was meant to depict her posing with models of different shades of brown skin. She and a fellow Sudanese posted a photo using the story of the uber driver once again. This post was even more popular than the previous one. She wrote, “When I put a picture up I’m telling people that no matter what you say, I love who I am. I love my skin tone. I’m telling people that I am beautiful even though I look different than the majority of people in this world I live in.”

Professionalism

Nyakim was gaining more fame and ever landed jobs as the cover girl for local magazines and national campaigns for brands like Aldo, Calvin Klein, and Jigsaw. She was slowly starting to get attention for the right reasons. As she encourages self-love, she was sought after by brands more than ever before. “My skin is beautiful; it’s smooth, it’s glowy, and I stand out when I walk in a room. My skin right now is being used as a weapon to show the world different is beautiful. I’m using my skin color as a tool to inspire other people to love themselves and be OK with who they are,” Nyakim later confessed.

No Photoshop

Nyakim has one thing she dislikes a lot. It is when photographers alter her look so that she appears lighter or darker. “Can you just get my skin color the way it is? Is that too much to ask,” she expressed in an interview. She wants people to stop associating blackness with everything dark and twisted. She loves being called the queen of darkness. She sees Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Alek Wek, and Nykhor Paul as inspirations and explains, “We’re not just regular models who walk down the runway, go home, and call it a day. We’re inspiring people and opening doors for others.”