Yemi Sekoni, owner and director of Donahue Models & Talent LLC in Cranston, is pulled in many different directions, driven by a love of fashion and engagement.
In addition to overseeing the modeling agency, she is president and creative director of Lights|Fashion|Philanthropy, the fashion-event production and entertainment arm of the agency; founder and creative director of Rhode Island Fashion Week; and publisher and editor-in-chief of Trade Secrets, a monthly online magazine for the modeling industry. COVID-19 has prompted changes in how photo shoots are managed for the modeling agency, but it also led her to new ventures.
It’s not unusual for Sekoni to be juggling multiple projects at once – all while she’s dreaming up ideas for new projects, then acting quickly on them. “I am super organized and cannot function if there is too much disorder,” she said.
Trade Secrets has been on hiatus for a few years now, but that seems to offer little respite for Sekoni.
Multiple smartphone alarms are central to a work system Sekoni has sworn by for years. At 6 p.m., an alarm alerts her that the workday is over. She keeps a regular 10 p.m. bedtime. At 2 a.m., an alarm goes off and she returns to her computer, working until 6 a.m., when an alarm alerts her that it’s time to return to bed, where she sleeps until 9 a.m.
Sekoni said she’s found working in the early morning productive because it’s quiet and distraction free.
Without a strict bedtime and the knowledge that she can resume her tasks in the early morning, “I would just keep working,” Sekoni said. “I get so wrapped up because I love what I do.”
‘I get so wrapped up because I love what I do.’
YEMI SEKONI, Donahue Models & Talent LLC owner
Her journey to becoming a small-business owner took a roundabout path.
Sekoni earned her undergraduate degree in education in her native Nigeria and a postgraduate diploma in marketing in England. She then relocated to the U.S. and got an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2003.
She worked in banking, mainly business development, in the early to mid-2000s, for the former FleetBoston Financial and for Citizens Bank, before taking a role as special events manager at Homefront Health Care in Pawtucket from 2008 to 2010. The facility closed in 2017.
But those were jobs to pay the bills, she said. Along the way, Sekoni “fueled [her] soul” by auditioning for acting jobs. In about 2005, she sought to improve her articulation and stage presence, getting instruction at Donahue Models & Talent.
Little did she know that the agency’s founder, Annette Donahue, had other plans.
Sekoni joined the agency as a model in 2005, at age 30. But Donahue, who founded the business in 1973, was looking for someone to buy it and run it with the same care and passion she had. With clients such as Hasbro Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Clairol, Donahue Models & Talent had built a reputation offering professionalism and a diverse range of talent.
“She kind of identified my enthusiasm and decided to start involving me behind the scenes to pull clothes for shows,” Sekoni said of Donahue. “She began to mentor me, asked me about my citizenship status, my background.”
It took Sekoni 18 months to put together the business plan to buy the agency 10 years ago. She had doubts initially. But she and Donahue had the same gusto for the industry, she said. She now reflects on how incredible the relationship and experience has been for two women whose backgrounds had been so different.
But fashion has been the tie that binds them. Still living in Rhode Island, Donahue remains close with Sekoni and acts as a trusted adviser.
And Sekoni wants to pass along her business knowledge to others in the field. Fashion designers will often not know how to do a profit-and-loss statement or charge for their time appropriately, she said. On her list of future projects is a designer consortium series of workshops on entrepreneurship to help designers’ businesses remain financially viable.
The coronavirus crisis has hurt business, but work has picked up lately. Photo shoots are now spread over days to prevent having too many people together on location, Sekoni said.
The pandemic has made Rhode Island Fashion Week – an annual four-day event to promote local artisans and designers while supporting local causes – impossible this year. Instead, Sekoni launched Fashion Fete under the Lights|Fashion|Philanthropy umbrella, running YouTube virtual fashion shows with designers from all over the globe, including Uganda, London and Taiwan. “We’ve reached over half a million people,”Sekoni said.
She said she believes the pandemic has also brought more of an eco-chic, bohemian vibe to fashion, with so many people taking time at home to clean out their closets and form outfits with clothing they already own. The secret, she said, is knowing how to put these outfits together.
“It’s exposed me to designers who are sustainable,” she said. “The consumer is beginning to become a lot more educated. It’s the direction in which we’ll all have to go.”
