CHILDREN are like wet clay, once the clay dries up it cannot be shaped accordingly and for Cynthia Mhlanga it seems the clay could be shaping well in her four-year-old go-getting model Lennox Kartel Mhlanga.
At the tender age of four, Lennox Kartel has managed to achieve what older people have not in the modelling industry.
He is the brand ambassador for little Miss and Mr Zimbabwe; he models for Kids and Teens Hub as well as Style by Minnie, among others.
For someone who began his modelling career only last year in February, Lennox Kartel has scooped a number of accolades including the recent Most Stylist Model of the Year gong at the inaugural Zimbabwe Kids and Teens Models Awards.
As much as the environment highly contributes to a child’s development, supportive parents are the best component.
Cynthia told Standard Style that she has always been supportive of her son’s creativity, which got him into modeling.
“Ever since my son was two, he always loved posing for pictures, we would go for family photoshoots, but at the end, it would turn out to be a Lennox shoot because he wanted the camera to be on him always,” she said.
“So, with the way he posed for pictures people would ask me if he was a model and by that time he was not, so I then decided to enroll him under Mercy Mushaninga for modeling and ever since he has liked it and all I do as a mother is to support him.”
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Being a supportive parent means having your child’s best interests at heart, but also being present, involved and helpful.
Cynthia has been all that in her child’s modeling career by being present at award ceremonies and shoots.
“No one in my family is into modeling except for Lennox and as much as it is a new experience for us we support him in every possible way,” she said.
“My son is into fashion and he has a taste for it so we provide that for him so that he continues to carry himself around confidently.”
Child modeling has managed to make its way into the Zimbabwean industry and a lot of parents are signing up their kids for it and it is proving to be a very competitive sector as there are so many beautiful, confident and photogenic children out there.
“I had my doubts in the beginning and just like any other parent I was afraid that my son could lose his confidence if he failed at something he loves so much, but I decided to sign him up for it seeing how confident he is and that confidence helped him to get noticed,” Cynthia said.
Cynthia said apart from being on the runway, her son was just like any toddler who enjoys playing.
“He loves cartoons and gaming very much, especially anything that has superheroes in it,” she said.
“He is too playful, which is one of the things photographers love about him.
“He is a friendly child and once he gets into a room with fellow kids, one might think that he is already acquainted with them.”
Lennox Kartel’s role models include Kelvin Apple Papi, Zviko Motsi, Tino Chinyani, Kuda Munjeri, Panashe Marandu and Dhyaan Khumar.
