PICTURE THIS: Poise, grace and that edgy mohawk have made Detroiter Naima a fan favorite on 'America's Next Top Model'
BY JULIE HINDS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
May 11, 2005
GERDA GENIS/UPN
Naima, 20, a Detroit waitress, poses as a wild animal on a recent episode of "America's Next Top Model." She is one of four remaining contestants.
From watching UPN's "America's Next Top Model," viewers know Naima as a 20-year-old coffee-shop waitress from Detroit who's an intriguing mix of beauty and shyness.
She posed in an open grave for one photo challenge and impersonated a cheetah for another. With her soft grace and punky Mohawk haircut, she has become the clear fan favorite. But the show's judges often wish she'd show more personality. Tonight, she'll battle Brittany, Kahlen and Keenyah -- the three other remaining contestants -- for a place in next week's final episode.
Because of contractual obligations, Naima can't talk to the press while she's still in the running, and neither can her close relatives. The show's spokesperson won't even reveal her last name.
But the buzz in Detroit is that she's Naima Mora, a former Cass Technical High School student who excels in dance and comes from a family that's well-known in art and music circles.
Although "Top Model" hasn't played it up, sources say some of Naima's relatives are stars in their own right. Her father is Francisco Mora, a jazz percussionist with an impressive career who has worked with Sun Ra and Max Roach.
And friends also mention that her grandmother is Elizabeth Catlett, an acclaimed African-American sculptor, painter and printmaker whose works are in the permanent collections of museums across the country.
The whole Mora clan is a creative group, say those who know them.
For the past few months, the celebrity spotlight has been squarely on Naima, who has emerged as a calm, appealing figure on the fiery fourth season of "Top Model."
Although the show hasn't gotten as much media attention as "American Idol" or "Survivor," it performs solidly in the ratings, particularly with women in the 18-to-34 demographic, a group advertisers are eager to reach.
'Top Model' is a Cinderella story for the fashion crowd. Each week, a group of aspiring young women compete against each other in photo shoots and fashion challenges. Last week, for instance, they were in South Africa for an outdoor shoot that required them to accessorize with objects found in nature. Mud and leaves were popular wardrobe choices.
So far, the show's dramatic highlight was the screaming fit thrown by the host, supermodel Tyra Banks, when a departing contestant, Tiffany, didn't take her defeat seriously enough.
Through it all, Naima has maintained her poise, impressing photographers with her physical grace and showing a knack for acting. She has won the viewer's choice Cover Girl contest for eight straight weeks. On the show's Web site (
www.upn.com), nearly 40 percent of online voters have chosen her as their favorite contestant. Just over 50 percent believe she's going to win.
So do Naima's acquaintances from the Motor City, who say talent is something the Mora family has in abundance.
A childhood pal, Mialana Dominguez, 26, remembers Naima and her twin sister, Nia, as quiet, reserved children, the youngest of four sisters. "We would have singing parties," says Dominguez, who was a friend of Naima's older sister, Ife. "The twins would be our dancers."
At Cass Tech, Naima was a "top-notch" student, according to her former dance teacher, Tony Smith, who instructed her in modern dance and ballet.
Smith remembers her "as a very prolific artist" who was eager to learn choreography and a member of the Cass Tech Dance Workshop, a student company that travels extensively to perform.
Even as a freshman, "there was something very artsy about her," Smith recalls. "Where other students might do it for fun, she was very serious about it."
Cass Tech's current dance students are watching "Top Model" and rooting for Naima, says Smith, who considers the show's portrayal of her a little misleading. "She's not shy, she's not guarded. She's a quiet spirit. She's not an outrageous person, but she's not bashful at all."
After high school, Naima moved to New York, where she studied with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Her twin sister, Nia, also lives there and is pursuing a career in photography. Last year, Nia's work was part of an exhibit at Detroit's 4731 Gallery.
Although Naima has been praised by "Top Model" judges and photographers, not everything has gone her way. She has been criticized for not revealing more of her emotions, and she has endured a few envious remarks from the competition after winning prizes like a tennis racket signed by Serena Williams.
On last week's episode, Naima opened up about her personal life, explaining, "I was very angry growing up. My parents divorced. So I totally got into the party scene for a long time, and just, like, going crazy and getting drunk and feeling really lost." As she talked, viewers saw pictures of her as a teen with rebellious-looking flaming red hair.
But friends say the family is proud of Naima's success.
Her father, Francisco Mora, is "a percussionist with a lot of musical depth and a tremendous amount of knowledge of music in general," says Jim Gallert, co-author of "Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-60." Colleagues in the jazz world describe Mora (who has also recorded under the name Francisco Mora Catlett) as a cultural force who was deeply involved in the Detroit community before moving to New York a few years ago.
Naima's grandmother, Elizabeth Catlett, has been called a leading African-American artist of her generation. "I think a lot of women artists regard her as a pioneer," says Valerie Mercer, curator of the Detroit Institute of Arts' General Motors Center for African-American Art.
The daughter of public-school teachers and the granddaughter of slaves, Catlett went to Howard University and got her master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa, where she studied with Grant Wood of "American Gothic" fame. She married a noted Mexican painter, the elder Francisco Mora, who died a few years ago.
One of Catlett's sculptures is a black marble bust called "Naima." In an interview for Sculpture magazine, Catlett described it: "We have twin granddaughters who came to stay with us one summer, they were studying Spanish. I kept looking at one of them, who has a very dynamic personality. ... She has a little bump in her nose that I wanted to put in."
Will Naima become famous as a "Top Model" winner? It's tough to say, because reality shows often create suspense with tricky editing.
Because Naima is being portrayed as the front-runner, does that mean someone else will emerge victorious?
Metro Detroiters who know the modeling industry say Naima has something special.
"She has that little bit androgynous, edgy look, like she could be on the London punk scene. It makes her very chameleon-like and versatile," says Joe Fitrzyk, a creative director at Solomon Friedman Advertising in Bloomfield Hills. "She seems to be about what's next, rather than what we've already seen."
On a video clip posted at the show's Web site, Naima talks about her trip to South Africa and what the show has meant to her.
"This experience, it makes me very humble," she says. "I'm surrounded by mountains and plateaus. It makes me feel very small and it reminds me a lot that I'm part of all this, and this is becoming part of me as well."
Spoken like a true artist, or a reality-show contestant.
In case you all did not get the hints, Elizabeth Catlett is a Soror!!
Naima's Lineage
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