America’s Next Natural Model
America’s Next Natural Model is an online pageant that started in 2008 to celebrate the beauty and versatility of African hair.
The competition can best be described as American Idol meets America’s Next Top Model in a growing social network. Like America’s Next Top Model, the contestants are challenged to do weekly photo shoots to be rated by a panel of judges and similar to American Idol an engaging audience is also allowed to vote.
The big difference with the two competitions is that each contestant is responsible for her own photo shoot and that the photos can be rated by a spectrum of internet and mobile users for one full week.
A social trendsetter beyond cyber
What fashion shows do for designers, America’s Next Natural Model does for the Black community at large. While the competition offers aspiring models opportunities to take their career to the next level, companies use America’s Next Natural Model to launch new products and showcase their stuff.
Origin
Inspired by Tyra Bankls and Patricia Gaines, Mireille Liong-A-Kong, founder of going-natural.com and author of Going-Natural; How to Fall in Love with Nappy Hair started America’s Next Natural Model at a time when Black models were lacking from the runways.
