Moses Ally could be considered the new kid on the block on the local modelling scene, but he already has strong opinions about what he would change if he could and what could be done better.
Currently attached to Kast Talents, a recently founded modelling agency run by Khamisi Slowe, 19-year-old Moses said he chose to sign with Kast because it was open to men unlike many others that seem to target only women. Since he started with the agency six months ago, Moses has done a number of photoshoots and at least one fashion show.
Moses, who is six feet tall, was drawn to modelling because of the glamour it exudes and also because he noticed that models are always in the limelight. He feels the need to shine, not just for himself but to be an example to young boys and girls. Moses realized this was a way to kill two birds with one stone.
His need to hold himself up as an example was illuminated when he shared about his early life. Growing up in a single-parent home, Moses was faced with many misfortunes. There were many days when he went without lunch and sometimes breakfast and dinner too. Yet his intelligence won him a place at St Rose’s High School, but he never set foot inside the door. Instead, he was sent to St Joseph High, but for only a week. Because of financial difficulties, Moses’s mother had to send him to a school run by the Central Islamic Organization of Guyana.
There were numerous times when he did not have the required material for class sessions as there was no money to purchase them. This did not always sit well with the teachers and classmates looked down on him. Despite these challenges, he passed 10 of the 11 subjects when he sat the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations. Art was the subject he did not pass, and he found this very upsetting. Moses explained that while he got an A for his drawing, graphic design was his downfall and not because he was bad at it, but because he did not know he had to take his own equipment to do his design and while he did a free hand drawing, it was not acceptable. He did not own a laptop or printer and could not borrow one from the other students. These are the things that made him vow to make a better life for himself and his mother.
“When I first had to leave St Joseph’s… I was not too happy with my mom but today I am grateful for everything my mom did for me; she tried really hard,” he said. “She was my main reason for focusing in school. Every day when I would go home from school there would be this one thought in my mind, ‘Do good to make your mom proud’. That was what kept me going besides my passion for wanting more in life so that when I have a family of my own, they wouldn’t be [short of] the things I was.
“When I started working, I began as a bill writer at a chicken farm but eventually worked for them as a porter. Salary wise, it was a step up, but I have to admit that at the beginning I was ashamed to be a porter. But I knew I had to put that behind me and focus. I learned everything I could learn as a porter and tried to put my best foot forward.
“From that I went to becoming a salesman for the same company three months after. I was 16 at this time. The salesman salary was pretty decent and my mom who worked as a seamstress was then suffering from bad eyesight, so I told her to stop working and that I’ll take care of the house and us and ever since then I have been doing that.”
Every Sunday Moses is among several other models training and working on their modelling routines for an average of two hours. While he does not have a rigid schedule as regards dieting and proper skincare techniques, he does lot of weightlifting, though he admits that he has not been in the gym for quite some time. Moses has recently begun doing calisthenics. He is looking for more of an aesthetic or sculpted look, where a person has a little more muscle that a lean model. To achieve this look Moses will need to return to the gym.
He dreams to one day have his own modelling agency where requirements are not for just the tall and slim but where both genders regardless of height, body mass and age can walk the runway. “It would be perfect … having a variety of models because doing that will create a bigger market for business and designers. An older man or woman may showcase a particular design better than a younger model. What are you going to do if all of your models are plus size or just skinny? You have to have a variety of models because no one is a particular figure and everyone would like to look good and know that when they are looking for a design, it comes in their size.”
Part of being a local model means being paid next to nothing and for sometimes nothing. In addition, many models are paid weeks later instead of on a job, something Moses promises will change when he has his own agency.
Today, Moses is also an artist, photographer, graphic designer, accountant, audit clerk and bartender. He is currently employed with Hard Rock Café at MovieTowne. Because of all his jobs, he has no free time, but whenever he is able to carve out any, he swims and exercises.
Moses sport jackets, hoodies, and pieces that stand out. When wearing them, his colour choices are often black, red or blue.
In the years to come, the chiseled Capricorn hopes to take his modelling career international as well as learn how to manage an agency so that when he does do so, it is a household name in Guyana and regionally also. Moses likes listening to Rock, Techno and EDM music. He also loves to indulge in wild meat curries – labba and caiman. A favourite of his though is his mother’s mixed beef and mutton curry.
He is on Facebook as Moses Ally and Instagram @moses2000ally.
