Conversations Across the Diaspora | Writer & Model Jess Cole

Introducing a new monthly series with guests from all over the globe — some you may recognize and some you may not, but all will bring a new perspective to the African Diaspora.

Conversations across the Diaspora

A new interactive series brings you eclectic conversations from across the African diaspora. Join author and host Sarah Ladipo Manyika for talks with some of the most exciting voices from Berlin to Harare, from Tamale to London and New York and everywhere in between. We’ll introduce you to all sorts of folks—some you will know, others you may never have heard of, but never the usual suspects talking about the usual topics. We’ll be speaking with everyone from actors to poets, scholars, athletes, entrepreneurs, architects, artists and many more. Come join us!

We launch this month with author and host Sarah Ladipo Manyika in conversation with writer & model Jess Cole. After you register you will receive information to join via zoom on June 12th at 12 noon (Pacific Daylight Time), 8pm (UK).

Jess Cole is a journalist and a high fashion model. Jess was one of the original contributors for the UK’s Gal-dem magazine and has also written for The Guardian, I-D, Dazed, Document Journal and Vogue international, Jess is specifically interested, via interview based creative essays, in broadening the narratives of diversity by exploring the rich variety of blackness within the public sphere. Drawing on her experience as a high fashion model, Jess is also drawn to creating disruptive narratives through an interchange lens of radical feminism and environmental concerns.

In 2017, a chance encounter with an IMG agent led Jess (with a freshly chopped short mullet) into an unexpected path as a high fashion model at the relatively old age of 23. Three months into being signed worldwide with IMG models, Jess signed an exclusive contract with Burberry. In addition to fronting campaigns for Celine, Mugler, Burberry and more, Jess has modeled for American, British, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Korean titles of Vogue. Jess has also walked the runways for luxury brands such as Tom Ford, Hermes, Kenzo; her most cherished experience is being a frequent face for the iconic and black focused high-end brand, Wales Bonner.

Earlier this year, Jess co-directed her first play–an adaptation of TS Eliot’s The Family Reunion whose opening night was just days before Corona hit. Now enjoying a hiatus from both journalism and modeling, Jess has turned her attention to some new creative works including work on a poetry collection entitled Post love in the time of consumption.

Sarah Ladipo Manyika was raised in Nigeria and has lived in Kenya, France, Zimbabwe, and England. Sarah is a novelist, short story writer, and essayist and founding books editor for Ozy.com. Her debut novel, In Dependence, is an international bestseller while her second novel, Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun, has been translated into a number of languages. Her nonfiction includes personal essays and intimate profiles of people she meets from Mrs. Harris and Pastor Evan Mawarire to Toni Morrison and Michelle Obama. Sarah previously served on MoAD’s board and currently serves as Board Director for the women’s writing residency, Hedgebrook.

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