‘Is there a specific way you want me to do it?’
She asks about the poses. That is Mayonde for you. Always thinking about what you need. What will look good while effortlessly giving you good shots.
She is easy to work with and the energy in the room is light. Relaxed. Contented.
We are shooting on the seventh floor of the Emory Hotel in Kileleshwa. 'Let her freestyle it,' someone in the room whispers loudly. Mayonde knows the poses that work for her.
Smile at the camera. Flash. Smoldering look to the side. Flash. Strike a Marilyn Monroe pose. Flash.
After that, for the remainder of the shoot, we let her do her thing and we only step in to change the location or to ask the photographer, Kuyoh, for specific shots.
I am meeting Mayonde for the second time. Well, third, if you count the time I bumped into her briefly at a Blankets and Wine event in 2017. We were both oblivious of the fact that we would meet again for a couple of hours, trading stories and getting to know each other.
'I have placed myself in a vulnerable position, but I trust that God wants me to tell this story,' she told me a few days after the shoot.
It is clear that Mayonde is one of those people whose strength is in her vulnerability. The ‘intuitive healer’ as her profile on Instagram states, pulls everyone in; from the bartender who takes one look at her and proceeds to put up a Mayonde playlist, to the sales manager who needs a selfie for her four-year-old son who is a big Mayonde fan. I note that, interestingly, her fans are cross-generational.
But she was not always this self assured. This in control. This vulnerable.
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