I had a meeting with my PR rep in London yeaterday and expressed my desire for mre speed and more action with regards to booking me on media outlets. He listened and things have sped up drastically. Today, I had an interview on London’s BEN TV, one of the oldest and leading African TV stations in the UK. It was a great interview. It was long, so I got a chance to talk about everything including the death of Ogbogu. I even got to give a shout out to his children who were watching at home with my mom. In addition to that, my cover of The Ladybrille magazine came yesterday. It looks amazing. You can se it right here. The interview in Ladybrille magaine is below:

Hi Ngo, how are you doing?

 Ngo: I’m doing very well. Thank you

 Ladybrille: I feel like this interview has been long overdue. From way back at the African Vibes event a long time ago to seeing you at the NEA last year. It feels very good to be able to take a moment to speak with you about your career and your life in general.

 Ngo: It’s definitely long overdue. We’ve spoken about it a few times in the past and happy that we are finally making this interview. Congrats on the success with the magazine.

 Ladybrille: First, congratulations on being honored as Ladybrille Man of the Month for our Special Anniversary issue. You embody the kind of man we celebrate from your accomplishments to the way you seem to live your life in the public eye. How does it feel to be honored?

 Ngo: Thank you for selecting me for this award. I’m very honored. I’ve put in  a lot of hard in my career an it’s great to be recognized for it.

 Ladybrille: I know you are in the middle of a very tough time in your life right now. So, let’s go there and at least talk about it, and then we can get into discussions about your career. You just lost your brother. Share with us what happened to him?

 Ngo: It is a very tough time. I lost my youngest brother, Ogbogu Anthony Okafor on Easter Sunday, a little over a month ago. He unfortunately died of a pulmonary embolism which is blood clots in the lungs.

 Ladybrille: What kind of a man was your brother?

 Ngo: My brother was a beautiful inside and out. He was great father and husband. He wanted to make everybody happy. He once took in a young Nigerian man who came up to him at the bus stop and asked for help. He didn’t even know the guy, but Ogbogu took him into his home.

 Ladybrille: How have you been able to cope with such loss? Do you plan on seeing a grief counselor?

 Ngo: I’ve been coping with the pain of my loss by writing a blog and working out when I can. I feel that as long as I have an outlet, I don’t need a grief counselor. I think that a grief counselor is a great idea for people, but I have no problems expressing my pain. I never hold it in. If I need to cry, I do.

 Ladybrille: I know you started a blog and I do read your entries periodically. One of the recent entries I read was the concern of sharing your intimate personal detail with the world. Could you address that?

 Ngo: I think that we are all put on this earth for a reason. We have all been given gifts, talents etc. We have a duty to ourselves and other human beings to share. Our thoughts and ideas are energy that we must share. If we try to hoard our ideas and gifts, they will be taken from us. Many people do not share because of fear of being judged, but tworse judgment will come from not being open to share. Sharing is caring!!

 Ladybrille: You mentioned that you are learning a lot about yourself since the loss of your brother. Share with us a few things that you can share about what you are learning about yourself?

 Ngo: I have been in London for over a month and in this time, I have learned to put others ahead of my needs. My family needed me to step up in this difficult time and I could not do it from New York. I had to drop everything and come to London. That is growth for me. I’m very intense and focused on my work that I thought this would be difficult to do, but it turned out that it was not.

 Ngo & Career as a Model

 Ladybrille: Ngo, so much has been said about you as a model and the many accolades you have garnered along the way (we also state this in our intro for the writeup). For fear of redundancy, I will not get into the story of how you became a model. But, what I’d like to discuss is your career and sustaining yourself as a successful model. What was the first thing you did in managing your career as a model?

 Ngo: The most important thing to me in my career is to be as hands on as possible. A model/actor must see themselves as a product and a brand. You must invest in building and developing that brand, the same all the big brands such as Nike, Reebok etc do. No one cares about my success as much as I do. I believe in tirelessly promoting oneself by using all media, online, TV, print and radio.

 Ladybrille: To get the kind of buzz you have succeeded in having means you are always involved in public relationships i.e. having a public relations person. What are the tips you have for many models and model hopefuls who will read this and are wondering how to keep their names buzzing during and after their modeling career ends?

 Ngo: Hiring a PR rep is expensive but important. It’s definitely a worthy investment. You have to keep yourself relevant and hot in order to work in the entertainment business. There are ways to get around the expense. You can barter with some PR reps.

 Ladybrille: You have successfully transitioned or still straddle modeling and boxing. What were the skill sets you learned, running or managing yourself as a model, that you found transferred into your job as a boxer?

 Ngo: The amount of intensity and focus required to compete in the modeling industry transfers to the ring. It takes a lot of hard work to stay in top shape and that translates to the ring as well.

 Ladybrille: You entered boxing at a later stage in your life. Why?

 Ngo: It just happened that way. I never had any dreams of being a boxer. I started boxing just a fitness regimen and I ended up falling in love with the sport. As a kid, I always wanted to play sports at a high level, but parents were not big fans of their children playing sports. So, when I discovered and fell in love with boxing, I knew that it would be my chance to live out my childhood dream.

 Ladybrille: Even as a boxer you have excelled. What do you think it is about you that makes you successful with the endeavors that you choose?

 Ngo: I have strong belief in myself that there is nothing I can not do. I was also blessed with an intense work ethic. No one can out work me. I’ve always believed that if I work hard, I can be great at anything.

 Ladybrille: As an ex-personal trainer and also a fellow fashion model, although not at the level that you have worked, I know both industries have intense pressure to keep a lean sexy physique. Both industries often deal with issues of drugs, from substance abuse in modeling to steroid use in boxing. How were you able to stay away from all of that?

 Ngo: Many people do drugs and abuse all kinds of other substances in order to fit in. I’ve always done my own thing and do not believe in fitting in.

 Ladybrille: What does your diet and daily routine look like in maintaining your physique and staying fit for your boxing competitions?

 Ngo: I try to keep my carbohydrate intake low and my protein consumption high. This helps me stay lean. I also do cardio everyday. I usually train twice a day. I do my conditioning training in the morning. For this I either run or do interval training on exercise bike or on the rowing machine. I then do my strength training afterwards. Later on in the day, I do my boxing specific training.

 Ladybrille: In both industries, and as an entrepreneur that you are, there is a level of confidence that is absolutely required to succeed. You seem to have always had it. Where did you get it from?

 Ngo: It probably came from being raised by my parents in Nigeria. People, both the men and women in my family were very confident and I guess I learned from them.

 Ladybrille: Have there ever been times you doubted yourself? How did you overcome your doubt?

 Ngo: There have been plenty of times that I have doubted myself. I do so many things that no one else has done and sometimes I wonder whether it will work. The way I get over the doubt is that I know that I will feel worse if I don’t do it. I’d rather try it and have it not work out than not try at all.

 Ladybrille: Let me ask you about money management. What are some of the tips you have for our current models on how to manage their money, from investing to savings?

 Ngo: As a Nigerian, it has been drilled into me to buy real estate, so I did. You have to have an active savings plan. Always put money away and know that modeling and acting does not last forever.

 Ladybrille: Let me finish our interview by delving into two areas: 1) your personal life philosophy and 2) the history of the African fashion male model.

 Ladybrille: What are the value systems and principles that guide and have guided you in life so far?

 Ngo: The most important principle that guides me is that you have you have to be nice to people you meet on the way up, because you might see them on the way down. All this superficial adoration does not last. That’s a fact and I keep that in the back of mind at all times.

 Ladybrille: What drives you Ngo? I sense a burning hunger still, even after all you have accomplished. What drives you in life?

 Ngo: What drives me is to leave my mark in this world. I want to affect the world in my lifetime, no matter how long or short it is. I have a hunger to be the best that I can be. When I’m on my death bed, I want to know that I’ve done everything I ever dreamed of doing.

 Ladybrille: What next for you? I was surprised to see you are an editor also. As in video editor. Cool! What next for you?

 Ngo: The next frontier for me is filmmaking. I’m currently working on my documentary titled ‘The Triumph of The Will’. It is a story of my journey from Nigeria to the top of the modeling and boxing worlds. Once I’m done with it, we’ll submit to film festivals and then go ahead and make more films.

 Ladybrille: When people say the name Ngo, 10years from now and beyond, what is the one word you hope they say that best describes the legacy you would like to leave?

 Ngo: LEGEND!!

 Ladybrille: I noticed that you are now doing charity outreach work in Nigeria. Please expand on that.

 Ngo: I want to share the joy that boxing has given to me with children I believe that sports is a great outlet for children, especially boys. My job will be to provide the kids with boxing equipment that will protect them while they move towards greatness.

 Ladybrille: You have some sort of a documentary film coming out too, right?

 Ladybrille: How do you define a brilliant man?

 Ngo: A brilliant is a man that understands what is currently going on and can anticipate and react to the future while caring for other people’s needs.

 Ladybrille: I am particularly fascinated with the history and impact of African models in the fashion industry. I feel that African models within and outside Africa’s fashion industry do not get the praises they really deserve for trailblazing and opening doors for fashion designers and a lot of fashion professionals, particularly in the African fashion industry. Can you speak to the impact African models (male and females) have had in fashion’s history?

 Ngo: Alek Wek, Liya Kebede, Iman have all been trailblazers. Due to the fact that they were African and understood life’s hardship, they didn’t get swept up in the hype. These girls were not about just the glamour, they were very good business women as well. That is the key to longevity in the modeling business and the entertainment business as a whole.

 Ladybrille: You are an inspiration to many and it is indeed and honor to celebrate you and your accomplishments as our Man of the Month. Thank you for the privilege and honor and enjoy your month!

 Ngo: Thank you so much for having me. I look forward to great things for your magazine. Keep pushing forward. All the best.