BEFFTA MEMBERS

BEFFTA MEMBERS UK – 2012

BEFFTA Members are professionals from different categories of entertainment, film, fashion, television and arts involved in the nomination process and are responsible for delivering the final list of nominees to go through the public voting. Each year BEFFTA awards appoints a brand new panel of BEFFTA Members who analyse and research on all nominees submitted by the general public as they too nominate in different categories. In addition to scouting raw talent, they are also good will ambassadors for BEFFTA awards ceremony.

DAVID AJALA

David Ajala is a talented young actor climbing the industry ladder fast. David is currently preparing to shoot his biggest role in a Hollywod movie. Apart from playing lead roles on mainstream TV and film he has worked with Anne Hathaway, Heath Ledger and appeared alongside stars like David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.

Ajala was recently seen as lead actor in gritty thriller from revolver PAYBACK SEASON released March 2012 where he received excellent reviews from Sky movies, Total Film, Screen Daily, Film News and The Independent.

David’s other television credits include: Silent Witness, Doctor Who, The Revenge Files of Alastair Fury, Royal Television award nomination(Best acting performance) for his role as Flipside in BBC’s Trexx and Flipside (BBC). Dream Team(Sky One), The Bill(ITV), Micah, Misfits(C4).

His film credits include: Batman The Dark Knight, Adulthood, Kidulthood, Emulsion, Following Footsteps, One Day and Payback Season.

Future film projects include guest leads in Death in Paradise 2(BBC) and Monroe 2(ITV).

“As a BEFFTA Member I look forward to being part of seeing unknown and known artists being recognised for their talent,” said David Ajala.

NANA AFUA ANTWI

BEFFTA MEMBER UK- NANA AFUA ANTWI

Nana Afua Antwi is a British fashion model, designer and TV presenter born in Ghana. She is the winner of Britain’s Top model of colour season 5 and recipient of BEFFTA awards female model of the year. Nana was the cover girl for Black Hair magazine August/September issue voted one of the best black magazine covers in America in 2011. She is also the current face and ambassador for BEFFTA THIS IS LOVE CONCERT that creates awareness for the Stephen Lawrence centre and promotes anti-hate and anti-violence. Nana is also the face of the biggest African fashion website Thula Trends.

The supermodel who studied fashion illustration at London College of fashion has a clothing label called Adopted Culture. Nana has graced several fashion shows including London Fashion Week, Africa Fashion Week London amongst others and has walked the catwalk for the likes of Matthew Williamson, Anna Wilkinson, Adebayo Jones and more.

Having been inspired by a a BBC documentary which highlighted deaths of single mothers who lost their lives while mining and left children behind, Nana established a charity called Akosua Odei to advocate for single mothers who live in harsh conditions.

“As a BEFFTA member, I look forward to helping spot and elevate unrecognised talent within the black community in the entertainment industry for deserving awards,” said Nana Afua Antwi.

WIL JOHNSON

BEFFTA MEMBER UK - WIL JOHNSON

Actor and producer Wil Johnson is a well known face on British television and film industry. He has been in the acting profession for over 27 years and has starred in several films ranging from cinema number No1 box office hits ‘Anuvahood’ and ‘Adulthood’ Golden Globe and Oscar Winner 2011 Hit European Movie ‘ In a better world’ Directed by Susanne Bier, International Emmy Award winning drama series ‘Waking the Dead’, Bafta winning drama series ‘Clocking Off’, Bafta winner ‘Buried Treasure’ starring alongside the late great John Thaw and most recently the National Television Award winning drama series ‘Waterloo Road’ and ‘Holby City”. Known for playing lead roles, Wil has a wealth of knowledge in acting and was recently appointed celebrity judge at Starlywood.

“As a newly appointed BEFFTA Member I’m really looking forward to seeing the emerging talent coming through as well as the experienced talent continuing to producing excellence and forever raising the bar,” said Wil Johnson.

PAULINE LONG

BEFFTA FOUNDER- PAULINE LONG

Pauline Long is an inspirational multi-award winning entrepreneur, philanthropist, fashion designer and TV presenter. She is the CEO and founder of BEFFTA awards (the global brand), presenter and executive producer of BEFFTA TV show. She is also popularly known for her philanthropic work with charities through her beauty pageants Mr East Africa UK and Miss East Africa UK pageants. The former fashion editor of the popular UGpulse.com is also the managing editor of Miss East Africa UK magazine. She is currently writing her first motivational book called Pauline Long’s Daily Motivation.  The book has a page on facebook with plenty of motivational quotes. She is the manager of one of London’s largest film studios; East End Studios. Crowned the most innovative Kenyan in the UK at UKAA awards, Pauline Long is now the face and ambassador of UK Kenyan Achievers awards, Africa International Achievers awards and CNN Hero’s Betty Makoni’s book titled ‘NEVER AGAIN’.

“As a BEFFTA member, I look forward to appreciating more talent. We are a community of very hard working and talented individuals, it is only right that credit is given where it’s deserved. A nomination alone can boost ones confidence to get to the next level; BEFFTA awards is here to inspire more and more personalities to achieve at the highest level. So many talented personalities go unnoticed and unrecognised but here at BEFFTA we are committed to reaching out to all creative talent whether known and unknown. At BEFFTA awards everyone putting in the hard work and passion in the industry is considered as somebody who deserves praise.”

JStories

BEFFTA MEMBER UK- JStories

Jstories is passionate about music and dance. Writing songs to express feelings about the drama occurring throughout childhood gave Jstories the ability to turn life into lyrics. He started out at the tender age of six in his local Baptist Church

Recently starting his own company, ’Open Gates’ that specializes in writing songs for artists of all genres he is on his way to success with the company’s debut single Oxygen performed by Caspian) being played on MTV Base, Flava TV, & Channel AKA as well as some European channels. He has written ‘alien’ sung by Jsol

However, Jstories is no stranger to the industry. Before realizing he had the ability to create good music independently and deciding to start his own franchise he was apart of a company called Dark Horse. This led to the opportunity of working on projects for Toni Braxton, Peter Andre and Esme Denters. Starring on the hit TV Show Kojo’s Fun House (MTV Base) as one of the main characters on prime time TV every Thursday gave him the skills to captivate an audience with excellence. Other writing credits to mention Jstories got a placement in America for the massive company Paramount.

“As a BEFFTA Member I look forward to connecting with positive and ambitious people,” said Jstories.

VERONA WHITE

BEFFTA MEMBER UK - VERONA WHITE

Verona White is an international celebrity hairstylist, consultant and teacher. Her reputation precedes her having worked on events such as ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ , the ‘U2 Special’and shows such as T4and Fashion Rocks in Monaco. It wasn’t long before a host of celebrities including the likes of model and author Katie Price, TV personality June Sarpong, model and WAG Abbie Clancey, singer Shaznay Lewis, TV presenter Michael Underwood, TV presenter Angelica Bell, boxer, Audley Harrison, actress Michelle Gayle, re-styled TV host Trisha Goddard, Judge Ruthie Henshall and Denise Lewis came looking for Verona White to work some of her magic on their hair.

Verona White is very passionate about her work and travels to many different countries such as China , America , Europe to teach and learn different techniques. She has also released her educational DVD in the USA, UK and shortly in Germany and Dubai.

“As a BEFFTA Member this year I look forward to celebrating what people have achieved in their lives,” said Verona White.

CHUKA ROYALTY

BEFFTA MEMBER UK- CHUKA ROYALTY

Chuka Royalty is a BEFFTA (2011) and AGMA (2012) award nominee, The BA Hons degree holder in media culture and communication is a ‘swapper’ (singer/song-writer/rapper as he likes to call himself). A freelance media agent who specialises in social media and working with youths by running different workshops and seminars.

“As a BEFFTA Member , It’s such a big privilege to be part of this experience for the second time, last year was remarkable looking forward to finding those hidden treasures again this year. BEFFTA is good at what it does because it’s all about discovering the raw untapped talents and since BEFFTA and I have HISTORY let’s make HISTORY again,” said Chuka Royalty.

SAMIRA HASHI

BEFFTA MEMBER UK - SAMIRA HASHI

Samira Hashi is UK based Somalian supermodel and star of BBC Three documentary ‘Escape From The World’s Most Dangerous Place’. Having been rejected by a number of modelling agencies in London, Samira never gave up on her dream of becoming a model and was finally signed to Union Model Management. Samira has been on several runways including London Fashion week and has modelled for various designers including Vivienne Westwood.

Together with a group of friends Samira runs a self-funded charity called The Mad Experience. The charity promotes and inspires excellence amongst youngsters who are at that crucial decision making stage of the different avenues they can take in entertainment, journalism, fashion, television and other areas of creative industries. Through the charity they set up projects and intimate one to one sessions in schools to motivate and educate young people of all the opportunities in the UK.

Samira also has important humanitarian duties as an advocate for raped and abused children and women in Somalia, she works with Save The Children charity.

“As a BEFFTA Member, I look forward to achieving great things and inspiring the younger generation,” said Samira Hashi.