Emirati-Chinese model Nadya Alawiny’s passion for fashion is taking her places

The 24-year-old who lives in Dubai says it was Naomi Campbell who inspired her to take up modelling.

Emirati-Chinese model Nadya Alawiny. Courtesy Tips & Toes

Nadya Alawiny could be on her way to becoming the UAE’s first supermodel. The 24-year-old Emirati-Chinese was one of the three winners chosen by Tips & Toes salon this year to front their spring campaign.

Alwiny, from Dubai, won Dh10,000 in spa treatments – but says the biggest reward was the confidence boost, spurring her to pursue a lifelong dream.

“Naomi Campbell inspired me to become a model,” says Alawiny. “I met her in Dubai when I was 10 years old. She was sunbathing at the Royal Mirage Hotel and I approached her for a photo. She told me I was really pretty and that I should model. My dream started right then.”

At the Tips & Toes competition, which was held in February and attracted more than 3,000 entries, Alawiny triumphed alongside 26-year-old Canadian teacher Fatima Alsalihiy and Mais Mohammed, a 28-year-old Iraqi TV presenter with MBC Action.

The win has been a springboard for the three women, in particular Alawiny who, as the youngest, is still mapping out her career path.

“I think it’s my personality that has taken me this far,” she says. “I have my parents to thank for that – they nurtured those qualities in me.”

In 2009, Alawiny’s dream took her to China, where she scooped the Middle East title at the Miss Chinese Cosmos beauty pageant. She also continued to model in Dubai for aspiring fashion designer Dimitri Ruwan at Esmod.

“I didn’t manage to keep any of the photos from that time, sadly,” says Alawiny. “They were so hard to get hold of. But now I’ve signed up with some modelling agencies in the UAE and I want to take advantage of any opportunities that come my way.”

Alawiny’s home life centres on her parents and siblings – an older sister who is 28, and a 4-year-old brother. Her father is Emirati; her mother, who is Chinese, is a talented cook, and Alawiny says meals at home are a fusion of Arab, Thai and Cantonese.

While the predominant language at home is English, Alawiny is taking night classes to improve her Arabic.

She is also passionate about environmental conservation.

“I’m part of a group that’s working on a project to save a specific resource in this region,” she says. “I can’t reveal too much about it at the moment but we’re trying to make a difference in the world and help spread awareness about the issue when the time is right.”

The entrepreneurial project might be under wraps for now but it hasn’t gone unnoticed by investors keen to help turn it into a viable business.

Seeming to confirm the potential of the endeavour, Alawiny and her group also won funding and mentoring support from the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development last October.

She is also considering building upon her undergraduate degree.

“I studied psychology with counselling at Middlesex University as I’m really interested in the way people think,” she says. “I’d love to broaden my knowledge of the subject. It’s something I might come back to one day and practise in Dubai.

“The field I’m specifically interested in is forensic psychology – dealing with criminal minds –so that would mean continuing with my studies.”