Juba, South Sudan – Growing up, Khloe Nyanda and the women and girls around her were taught “to be small and not take up spaces”, the 21-year-old says. But the model and law student at the University of Juba followed her own instincts, and role models who showed her that a different way was possible. The rise of South Sudanese icons like her is the tangible evidence Nyanda hoped to use to convince her family that a career in the industry was possible for their daughter.
Nyanda sits with practised poise at The Baobab House in Juba, a cultural hub that has become a haven for many artists and creatives in the capital city. She speaks with quiet confidence about the milestones in her career and the usually unspoken realities that shadowed them. Nyanda’s life has been defined by movement.
She was born in Yirol, about 200-250 kilometres (roughly 125-155 miles) northwest of Juba, spent her childhood in Nairobi, Kenya, and later returned to Juba. In 2016, at age 14, she decided modelling was something she wanted to pursue, but for years her family viewed the overlap between her academic life and her dream with unease. Inspired by the international success of models like Akech, Nyanda began modelling in 2023.
But her family remained unconvinced about the profession as a career option. The disapproval from within this patriarchal system hardened into estrangement. Eventually, Nyanda lost her support network, including her stepbrother, who had raised her since she was seven years old.
This was exacerbated by her rejection of a man they had chosen for her to marry. Despite emerging talent, South Sudan’s weak internal infrastructure acts as a cage, limiting how far ambition can travel. For aspiring models, the absence of credible, protective “mother agencies” means young women are especially vulnerable to predatory agents and abusive trainers, models say.
Nyanda says she experienced this complexity firsthand when she rejected the advances of a modelling coach. After she refused to date him, she says it ignited personal tensions that ended up costing her paid modelling opportunities and left her with broken dreams. On paper, Nyanda is a professional whose work demands mobility and a hybrid identity – moving between cultures, countries and high-fashion capitals.
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