First Novel by Senegalese writer Charlotte Seck
Charlotte is also the face of Modiyoya design
The beautiful young novelist at her Dakar book launching event
Black & Red by Charlotte
Love this look
Her Grace Jones moment
George Sand-her shero
Nice, a Carrie Bradshaw moment indeed
Never without her Valentino bag
Her Fashion Inspiration
Our heroine at the Kenzo Fashion show
Elegante
When NY meets Charlotte
Aight people , I had the great honour of meeting miss Charlotte Seck, the author of"Sa vie entre le luxe et humanitaire"published at Edition L'Harmatan.
We met at the Restaurant Toukouleur for dinner and a good chat .I was curious about this 23 years old writer, blogger and fashionista.
She came in wearing black leather leggings, a beautiful floral top and a great necklace, well put together for a 23 years old. I remenbered my akward stage at that age, and I thought to myself that these young ladies are so much more confident than we were. Throughout my time with her, I discovered a poised, at times cautious, quiet and loving young lady. I could tell that she was careful with her words and I don't blame her she's had experiences with interviewers twisting her words...
She wrote this book after a coworker of hers back when she was living in NY asked her what was her biggest dream? .... the answer was simple" to write a book". She got busy with the project, when she was done called a publishing company, send out her transcipt, they loved it called her for a meeting and the rest is a whole lot of sleepless nights, media attention, and a successful book. You have to remenber that all this media circus was new to the novelist, the media attention, the tv ,radio, internet interviews were not part of her every day life ..it took her time to adjust to her new fame.
The book centers around 2 characters, Lia a Senegalo-Frenchie haute couture designer and Salim a serious humanitarian with a whole lot of emotional baggage. He lost both his parents at a young age and doesn't know to deal with love. The only people he really allows himself to love and fight for are the opressed people of the world. Lia comes from multicultural supportive family , her father is from Senegal but managed to keep her grounded with Senegalese tradition. While Salim doesn't speak a word of Wolloff, Lia speaks it perfectly goes on vacation each year , has friends there and a Mame , grandma who's the love of her life. The book is simultaneously light and serious , it's about love, humanity, friendship, fashion, tradition , modernism, life challenges, forgiveness, ambition..life.
My fav' character is Salim, I think Charlotte did a great job showing his weaknesses , strength, it was very clear to me that this man was in pain and needed Lia to show him that love could bring happiness as well in his life....
At the end of the book I was left wondering how did miss Seck become so wise to understand the complexity of lofe. She cites her mother as her role model and her number 1 fan, the one that always encourages her to pursue her dreams, even though she's amazed today at her daughter success.
When her book was first published, Charlotte received tones of gifts from designers, among them a beautiful leather bag by her fashion hero Valentino. Valentino, Valentino every time miss Seck mentioned his name, her eyes lit up..she def' is in love with fashion. Ask her who are her fav' designers and she'll answer with a serious tone, Valentino, the late MacQueen,Balenciaga, Xuly Bet...don't be surprise if one day you see Tandy clothing by Charlotte..it's in the works..another one of her big dreams.
I asked her if she was always this driven, and she answered yes even as a young teenager she knew what she wanted and was involved in community service. Charlotte was supposed to fly to Haiti a few weeks after our dinner with the organization she was involved with . She's as passionate about humanitarian work as she is about fashion.
When I asked her who were some of her inspirations? she instantly said George Sand, "she is the woman" she said, she's been a huge fan since she was 12 years old She admires her for her courage to be her, her gift for writing, reading any of her book is like living in the 19th century she adds..
As any regular young lady , friendship is important to her, her BFF Medoune kept her going through this journey, she lost a few friends along the way who maybe didn't understand that even though she was the same Charlotte her life was evolving..but that's life she says..She kept the ones that were supportive and "kept it going"
The first moment she saw somebody reading her novel on the train made her tear up . She's currently working on a second novel so be on the lookout..there's talk abt a possible movie adaptation of her first novel..I hope that becomes a reality, I think that her book will translate well on a movie screen.
In the meantime if you would like to follow the adventures of Miss Seck, here's her noted fashion blog:
http://thewriterfashionicon.wordpress.com/
You can also catch a video interview of the sista, HERE
I'm def' left with a lot of respect for the drive , ambition and" go-getter" atitude of this young lady , this new generation of strong determined young women is amazing to witness. At their age most of us weren't thinking "yes we can "yet so to see them pursue their dreams is beautiful.
Go gal:)
Yaye
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