Collette Nwadike (born Collete Kosisochukwu Barbara, 6 April 1991) is a Nigerian model,

beauty queen A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes so ...

and

Nollywood Nollywood, a portmanteau of Nigeria and Hollywood, is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term goes back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history ...

actress. She represented Nigeria in the Exquisite Face of the Universe Pageant in

Sao Tome SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

and emerged winner, becoming the first African to do so. In 2014 she was the winner of Miss Tourism Nigeria. One month after her victory on a courtesy visit, she was appointed S.A to the Governor of Anambra State Chief

Willie Obiano Willie Obiano (born August 8, 1955) is a Nigerian politician, banker and technocrat. He was the 4th Governor of Anambra State from 17 March 2014 to 17 March 2022. Early life Governor Obiano was born at Aguleri, a town in Anambra State, East ...

. She is a representative of the Miss Tourism Nigeria brand.

Early life

Collette was born on 6 April 1991 to Mr. & Mrs. Simon and Angelina Nwadike in

Makurdi Makurdi is the capital of Benue State, located in central Nigeria, and part of the Middle Belt region of central Nigeria. The city is situated along the Benue River. In 2017, Makurdi's urban population was 517,342. The town is divided by the Ri ...

, the capital city of

Benue State Benue is a State in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria. It is popularly referred to as part of the Middle belt. It has an estimated population of about 4,253,641 in List of Nigerian states by population, the 2006 census. ...

, north-central region of

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. She has five sisters and a brother, and she is the last daughter and second to last child. Although a native of Nise in

Awka Awka () is the capital city of Anambra State, Nigeria. The city was declared capital on 21 August 1991, on the creation of a new Anambra state and Enugu state by bifurcation of the old Anambra State. The city of Enugu remained the capital of Enu ...

-South Local Government Area of

Anambra State Anambra () is a States of Nigeria, state in Nigeria. It is located in the South East (Nigeria), South-eastern region of the country. The state was created on 27 August 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State and Ri ...

, southeastern region of Nigeria, Nwadike grew up in

in the middle belt of

, where she did her primary and junior secondary education before moving to

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

to complete her senior secondary school. In an interview with Nwadike, she said: "As a young girl growing up, I was always seeing myself as a eautyqueen when I was three. I kept on looking up to people like

Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu Bianca Odinakachukwu Olivia Odumegwu-Ojukwu (; born 5 August 1968) is a Nigerian politician, diplomat, lawyer, businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder. She currently serves as the Federal Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. The widow of ...

, Regina Askia-Williams. I saw how beautiful they were and how glamorous they looked. I thought of being like these people someday! This is a dream I've had for a long time. And it's like I'm living my dreams now." Even as a child she had the ambition of becoming a

; she was called princess among family and friends. She was inspired in 2001 after watching

Agbani Darego Chief Ibiagbanidokibubo Asenite 'Agbani' Darego, MFR (born 22 December 1982) is a Nigerian model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World 2001. She was the first black African to win Miss World. Early life Abonnema-native Darego was born i ...

Education

Collette went to

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

's Heritage Nursery and Primary School,

(1993-1995) and Holy Ghost Nursery and Primary School,

in 2000. She later proceeded to Anglican Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue State from 2001 to 2006 and completed her O'Level in Caro Secondary School, Olodi-Apapa,

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

. At the age of 16 in 2007, she got admitted into Nnamdi Azikiwe University,

, where she studied English and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

under the tutelage of professors Joy Chinwe Eyisi and Rems Umeasiegbu as her notable lecturers. In an interview with Collette Nwadike regarding her choice of course she studied in the university, she said, "I got the form myself and I actually filled in

English Language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

and

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

for the first time but when it didn't work out, I got another form and filled in the same course the second time. My interest in English is really in

. I love reading books and that was one of the reasons I went for literature as a course. I'm really interested in Nigerian literature."

Career

Modeling and pageantry

Before becoming beauty queen, Nwadike has auditioned and participated in different modelling contests and has been featured in various shows. She works with some talented and well known fashion designers and stylists in Nigeria. Nwadike has judged numerous pageants, and fashion and modeling competitions including Miss Tourism Nigeria 2015 and Mr. Universe Nigeria 2015. Collette Nwadike has contested in different

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

s such as Miss Global Nigeria and Miss Earth Nigeria, where she was a runner up. In 2014, Nwadike was crowned Miss Tourism Nigeria, held in May at

, southwest

. She represented

, among other 35 contestants representing their states. After a series of screenings, Nwadike was crowned the Pageant Queen that night; her eyes were filled with tears of joy. A month after being crowned Miss Tourism 2015, she went for a courtesy visit to meet the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Chief

. They went for a tour around the state to see the different tourist sights. On her visit she was announced Senior Adviser to the

on tourism. Ever since then, Nwadike has been working with the

State Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

while participating in her other career. In December 2015, she represented

in Exquisite Face of the Universe held in Sao Tome and Principe, which involved over 50 contestants from different countries of the world. she emerged victorious and brought home the crown making her the first black woman to ever win the title.

Acting

She has worked with different veteran film makers in Nollywood such as Obi Emelonye, Ikechukwu Onyenka, Kasvid Movies, SimonPeaceMaker, Ndave David Njoku etc. She is the CEO of ScreenGoddessGlobalProductions and successful completed of a movie series title African Beauty yet to be displayed on screens

Filmography

Setbacks and success

As a child she admired many beautiful models and actresses with glamorous dress and attires. She went for her first ever modeling beauty pageant contest where she participated in the 2010 Miss National Association of Students of English and Literary Studies (NASELS), Unizik Chapter, but failed. Then she was in her first year in the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. She further went ahead to contest for Miss (UNIZIK) Nnamdi Azikiwe University and failed. She thought to try pageant out of school competitions and went for the

Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria – often abbreviated as MBGN – was a Beauty contest, pageant organised by Silverbird Group with the main purpose of sending representatives to international competitions. Originally known as Miss Universe ...

(MBGN) pageant, but unfortunately she didn't even make it pass the auditions. She made it through the

Port Harcourt Port Harcourt (Pidgin: ''Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa)'' is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is locate ...

audition but stopped in

. But she didn't back down, she went for Miss Earth Nigeria, where she got into camp in

Lekki Lekki is a city in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is located to the south-east of Lagos city. Lekki is a naturally formed peninsula, adjoining to its west Victoria Island and Ikoyi districts of Lagos, with the Atlantic Ocean to its south, Lagos Lag ...

and she did well in camp though she didn't emerge one of the runners-up. The event was held at "Incubator". She was awarded

Miss Earth Miss Earth is an annual international major beauty pageant based in the Philippines that advocates for environmental awareness, conservation and social responsibility. Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss International, it is one ...

Photogenic. Her race to becoming beauty queen continued in 2012 when she competed for the Miss Global Nigeria pageant. She was strengthened by the support of her mum and realized she couldn't stop, wanting to bring happiness and achieving her dreams. She contested for the Most Beautiful Girl in

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

and emerged Second Runner-up in 2013. In 2014, she saw the Miss Tourism

pageant on the Internet. She auditioned in

Owerri Owerri ( , ) is the capital city of Imo State in Nigeria, set in the heart of Igboland. It is also the state's largest city, followed by Orlu, Nigeria, Orlu, Okigwe and Ohaji/Egbema. Owerri consists of three Local Government Areas of Nigeria, Loc ...

Imo State Imo () is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its name from the Imo R ...

. She then represented

. The event was scheduled on 17 May 2014 and was held at Ruby Gardens.The News watch times with Collete Nwadike in an

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nwadike, Collete 1991 births Nigerian female models Living people Nnamdi Azikiwe University alumni