Malika Louback

"Modelling was always one of my aspirations. I contacted IMG as soon as I graduated with my degree"

"At our first meeting, the team made me feel I had potential. I signed a few days after."

"Being a model is to inspire, to make people dream and to promote diversity at the same time,"

"What really pushed me to be a model is to represent my country, Djibouti, in this industry. To be the first Djiboutian woman represented on the cover of this prestigious magazine is a tremendous source of pride for me."

"The most outstanding show I’ve walked for is Saint Laurent. The whole staging and the energy throughout the show was unique and electrifying."

"And I always wanted to be an engineer. Probably because I have been fascinated by the knowledge and reasoning abilities of my father ever since I was a child. He is also an engineer."

"I have already been confronted with several challenging situations as a Black woman, as a Black woman engineer, and a Black model but all these events have finally had a very positive impact on me,” she explains. “I have turned all these criticisms and challenges into fuel for my engine."

"When I started modeling, everything was really new and fascinating for me. That’s why I devoted a lot of my time and attention to it. I call this period “ the full immersion ”. Today I have managed to find a balance in both careers. Whenever I have time between jobs I work on a project that I would like to develop in Djibouti. For the moment, I prefer to remain discreet about my ideas. I like to talk about my projects once they are finished. I aspire to offer a concept that is new and very natural in the Djiboutian landscape."

"During my studies, I had to understand many notions from mechanics, electrochemistry, and thermodynamics. I was interested in everything, some classes more than others of course, but I wanted to be focused on what I was doing. I always worked by setting priorities. When I left Djibouti, my priority was to be an engineer in a specialty that I was passionate about and in which I projected myself. That is why I absolutely wanted to finish my studies before starting anything else."