Self-acceptance is the key to happiness. When you accept yourself then people will accept you and following this rule, Khadidja Djibrine started getting a lot of attention and recognition by the people. Popularly known as Kadi and ‘@itsnotkadi’ on social media, she took time to establish herself as one of the celebrated names on the internet. She has her roots in the Republic of Chad, located in north-central Africa. She belongs to a big Zaghawa family, Muslim ethnic group in Central Africa. She comes from a very conservative family and had a lot of restrictions in her childhood. However, nothing stopped her from chasing her dreams. After moving to India in 2010, Khadidja found her love in fashion and simultaneously started her luck into modelling.
While speaking about what inspired her to get into the fashion industry, she said, “Fashion gives me the opportunity to be myself and express myself fully by wearing something that is either comfortable or just trendy. It makes me do things and wear things that I normally don’t prefer wearing. It helped me to guide my self-discovery.” However, she had to go through a lot of challenges before making her entry into the world of glamour. Initially, she was rejected due to her dark colour, height and body shape. But with time, the fashion industry started accepting more curvy women which were a golden opportunity for her. As a model, she believes that different designers have different ideas of fashion and that becomes a challenge for a model to bring their vision to life.
In 2012, she finally made it happen as she walked the ramp at the Pune Fashion Week 2012 which took place at JW Marriott Hotel in Pune. That boosted confidence in her which made her realize that it is all about the way you carry yourself and a person’s colour or body type has nothing to do with it. Giving a final message to today’s youth, Khadidja said, “Do what you love no matter what it is. Always believe in yourself and follow your dreams even if nobody supports you at that moment. Eventually, people come around when you make your dreams come true.” That’s something worth inspiring and we are totally moved by her achievement.
