Dennis Okwera: ‘Let’s Be Kinder To Each Other, Especially Refugees’

The Business of Fashion Podcast

The Business of Fashion

Fashion & Beauty, Business, Arts

4.6 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Ugandan-born model how he is finding purpose in pursuing an unconventional career to support his family and the community he comes from.

Background:

At BoF VOICES 2022, fashion model Dennis Okwera spoke about his childhood in Uganda, fleeing home to avoid the violent life of becoming a child soldier in the rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army, coming to the UK as a refugee at the age of nine.

Though he was scouted multiple times while living in the UK, it wasn’t until he was attending university that Okwera decided to pursue modelling.

This week on the BoF podcast, model Okwera discusses his childhood escaping a guerilla army in Uganda, his adult life as a model in the UK and how he used his success to give back to his community.

“Let's just be a little bit kinder to each other, especially to refugees. Just see them with an open mindset; we're just looking for security and freedom, that's it really,” said Okwera.

Key Insights:

After Okwera was scouted he said at first his father objected to the idea of him modelling. “The first time I got scouted, my dad was like; ‘No, no, you're not doing it.’ You know, this is an African dad who thinks anything outside of education is a complete failure,” he says
When Okwera first started his modelling career he had the opportunity to work with designer Grace Wales Bonner when she was still a student attending Central Saint Martins.
Thanks to his career in modelling, Okwera was able to put his cousins through school and support his aunt who was diagnosed with HIV. Okwera says the “sole purpose” of him pursuing a modelling career was to support his family.
After travelling back to Uganda to donate sanitary essentials like diapers and formula, Okwera reunited with his mother after 24 years of being away. “I didn't know what it was like to have your own mum,” said Okwera.

Additional Resources:

BoF VOICES 2022: Live Your Best Life: During last year’s BoF VOICES model Dennis Okwera discussed his childhood escaping the rebel group, Lord’s Resistance Army and fleeing Uganda to live in the UK.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion.
0:08.1	Welcome to the B.OF podcast. It's Friday, May 5th. Last summer, I met the model Dennis O'Quera
0:14.8	at a party. You may have seen Dennis in the pages of Vogue or ID or dazed or seen him in fashion shows for Grace Wales
0:22.8	Bonner or in ad campaigns for Christian Lubutam. And as Dennis and I got to talking, we learned
0:29.0	that we both share heritage in East Africa and parents who prioritized education. But Dennis
0:35.9	shared more of his story with me,
0:37.6	and I understood just how much he has endured
0:39.6	to get to where he is at today,
0:42.2	fleeing violent conflict in Uganda
0:44.3	and coming to the UK as a refugee with his younger brother.
0:48.9	This week on the BOF podcast,
0:51.0	I'm so pleased to share Dennis's talk
0:53.0	from BOF Voices 2022, where he explains how he has
0:57.0	transformed his life through modeling and how he is finding purpose in pursuing an unconventional
1:03.0	career to support his family and the community he comes from. Here's Dennis O'Quera on the
1:10.3	BOF podcast.
1:11.6	So I'm here to tell you my personal story. I've rarely spoken about it, but I was born in
1:19.1	Northern Uganda in Kidgum district. It's quite closer to Sudan, more than Uganda, really.
1:26.6	And there's been a conflict there that has lasted almost 30 years,
1:31.1	but it's rarely spoken off. So the rebels is called a load-resistant army. It's headed by Kony.
1:39.8	And I think they started off with good intention to overthrow the current government and
1:45.4	liberate Ugandans, but it ended up really wrong.
	...

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