Southland-Bred Eritrean-Ethiopian Model Lydia Asghedom

Lydia Asghedom was born in Addis Ababa and moved to San Diego at the age of 10 to join her mother and other siblings. Here, in the Southland, she was discovered to have significant potentials while in high school. While growing up in the San Diego area, Lydia was involved in many sports but wrestling was her major target, and it did take her places.

She won a full scholarship to study business management and psychology at Menlo College in Atherton, Northern California. Lydia started modeling after graduating from college and was offered the modeling job for Soma Model Management before switching to City Model management in San Francisco which she did for quite some time, then relocated to Dusseldorf, Germany and now represented by Divina Models management.

Lydia's hands are full with series of endorsements running here and there in the United States and elsewhere on the Globe. Who said that Southland cannot make stuff happen? Of course, the Southland rocks and Lydia is out there to prove it. So you go girl, and keep rocking!

Aziza Elteib and the Road to Mt. Zion Parkway

"Fun" is now the operative word for the 4th Annual Miss Africa USA slated to be jamming on Mt Zion Parkway, at the Clayton County Performance Arts Center in Jonesboro, Georgia on November 1. I have quite been asked what designer clothing am I going to be putting on that day, and guess what? Absolutely no Prada, Armani, Fioravanti, Joseph Feiss, Kenneth Cole, Yves Saint Laurent and the rest hyped-up designers -- you know what I am talking about.

I will be going local since all politics are local according to Tip O'Neil. I will be having on a well tailored suit by my own African brother, Ghanaian-born designer, Oswald Boateng, the guru at London's Saville Row. Being a fashion freak and since life is already too short, I do not think it will be appropriate for me to patronize some foreign designers any further, particularly on an African night where my beautiful African sisters on African attire will be catwalking and showcasing the stuff of African cultural heritage on the runway in a contest every contender will be a winner -- and in your face --with the State Rep Mike Glanton (D - Jonesboro) appreciating the night of blackness and the magic of happiness which is the symbol of Motherland Africa.

I am a regular at the cafes and bars at Little Ethiopia by the Wilshire Corridor on Miracle Mile, here in Los Angeles. Ethiopians are cultural and easy going fellows with an awesome night life habits. Their bars and restaurants are always packed with a whole lot of smiling and beautiful faces you could not even imagine.

And just last night, as I was hanging out, the talk about Aziza Eltieb popped up. So when 21-year-old Aziza pops up as the choice for Ethiopia for the final showdown on November 1, I know what to expect based on my pub-crawling on Fairfax, the main hub of the Ethiopian community in Los Angeles. These guys on Fairfax talk as if it is NCAA Basketball when the struggle to Tobacco Road becomes a game of wits and all that. It's not so. Aziza is heading to Mt. Zion Parkway for a shot to the crown -- Miss Africa USA 2008.

Standing at five-feet-nine inches tall and weighing 125 Lbs gives her the 'great pride to represent Ethiopia.' and what motivates her is the ambitious nature to uplift her community in Ethiopia. Goodluck!

Go Africa Go!

PHOTO OP: Ethiopian Supermodel Liya Kebede

Ethiopia's supermodel Liya Kebede will be joining my girl Oluchi Onweagba, Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford in This Day's Africa Rising Festival on October 14, 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The show will feature a cast of models, designers and actors.