The Life and Times of Phillis Shayi
Early life
Phillis whose full name is Lettie Phillis Shayi was born in the Limpopo province in a small town called Leboeng. She later relocated to Soweto at the age of 6 where she spent most of her childhood in Naledi and Diepkloof zone 4. She finally settled in the South of Joburg in a place called Lawley where she spent most of her teenage and formative years.
After completing her matric, Phillis moved to the city of Johannesburg, Aukland Park, where she studied at the University of Johannesburg. After completing her studies and graduation, she relocated to Cape Town, where she currently resides and work.
Study and Work
Phillis graduated with a Business Information Technology Advanced Diploma from UJ. She is currently furthering her studies, and she enrolled on an Honours program in the IT field. She’s currently employed as an Associate functional consultant for an FMCG Company.
Modelling Career
Phillis is signed to Topco Models which is based in Cape Town and is one of the top modelling agencies in Africa. She has been signed to the agency since May 2021. She models part-time while juggling a career in IT. Before being signed to the agency Phillis modelled for various online shops such as @Fatcake_z and Rightland.
She also participated in various online competitions such as the #NiveaSkinCare influencer competition to get her foot in the industry. Unfortunately, didn’t work out with the Nivea competition.
Post Nivea’s misfortune, Phillis rollup her sleeves, started building a modelling portfolio and worked on rebranding her image before getting signed to Topco Models. #YourDreamsAreValid
She has worked for brands such as Jet and currently has a campaign that is underway for Ackermans ladies lingerie line where she is featured on their TV commercial and Stills.
Q + A with Phillis Shayi
TechDailyPost.co.za got up-close and personal with the rising star Phillis, the model, IT Expert and the entrepreneur for her fans to know her beyond superficial. Hopefully, some aspiring fashion models can learn a thing or two from her page and implement it in their lives to better their lives.
The deal with Ackermans how came about?
I received a casting request from my booker for the print campaign, went to the casting, received a request for fittings and I booked the gig a few days later, shortly after that I received an e-tape audition request from my TV Commercial booker, submitted the e-tape and was called out for another in-person audition and I booked the gig a few days later.
What was your reaction after you we were told that you were part of the campaign?
I was extremely excited and over the moon to be honest because I understood that it will be a huge campaign especially once I saw the amazing ladies, I was working with.
Where was the commercial was shot at?
The commercial was shot in the Mother City, Cape Town
After all, career, why did you decide to take a modelling route?
I decided to take the modelling route because I always wanted to be a model from a young age but I never pursued this goal because I was insecure about my skin, my skin tone and my gap teeth. After all, kids used to make fun of me growing up so I was insecure. Once I grew older and worked on my insecurities and felt secure in myself, my skin and my imperfections I decided to go after what I always dreamt of doing.
I think it’s profound that this is my first major campaign and the campaign in itself speaks to “What self-love looks like” so I hope that everyone who struggles with insecurities can learn to love themselves regardless of standards Setout by society.
What do you enjoy most about being a runway model?
I’m a commercial and trend model. I enjoy meeting people who are artistic creators and I love occupying a space that is outside of a corporate environment. Beyond that, I love looking and feeling great so doing hair and makeup by celebrity makeup artists is quite exciting for me.
What does the future hold for you?
I have another campaign in the works for Ackerman’s so keep an eye out for that, besides that, I am going to remain humble, focused and keep on Doing more work and continuing to grow my brand.
What was the feedback from your fans, family after they saw your ad on the television?
The amount of support that I have received was overwhelming, to be honest, it was amazing to see how far the campaign went and see that even people from back home in Leboeng saw and embraced it. I am quite grateful for the support that I have received from everyone, so to everyone who took the time to share, repost, message me and call regarding the campaign, thank you very much.
Can we expect to see you on the runway of four fashion capital of the world, Milan, New York, Paris and Tokyo?
I would love to do runway in the future however that will all depend on my agency and my booker. For now, I just want to dominate the commercial space with plans to do international commercials of course so stay tuned.
Enjoy MORE Pictures of Phillis
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