Hold it! She is not a security risk. Her own brand of ISIS is different from the terror gangs destroying the Middle East. Joan Isioma Okorodudu (nee Elumelu),President and Founder, ISIS Models, thinks more about the beauty of women than Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG).
A woman of many parts: Cosmetologist, singer, dancer, photographer, she holds a degree in Political Science,from the Boston University, Massachusetts, United States. ISIS, her modeling agency which she coined from the name Isioma,is not her first business venture.
In 1991, Elumelu opened Euro Africa in Wilmington, Delaware. She followed with House of j’Ola when she relocated to Nigeria in 2007. The trademark is a combination of Joan and her husband’s name Shola.
However, it was sports that took the young woman to America in the first place. Elumelu was one of the blossoming Track and Field stars who left Nigeria for greener pastures abroad in the 1970s. The list included Bruce Ijirigho, Godwin Obasogie, Charlton Ehizuelen, Modupe Oshikoya, Joe Siaisia and Joe Nnakwe. There were also Otenkwa Dele Udoh and Edward Ofili.
Elumelu gained prominence in 1979 when she won the Women’s 400 metres Hurdles title at the Nigeria Senior Open Championships in 61.7 seconds. She thus emerged as the First national female 400 metres Hurdles champion. Soon her efforts attracted other young women especially Maria Usifo who became a household name. Usifo’s national record of 55.16 seconds in 1976 stood for a pretty long time.
Joan Elumelu was also into the 4×400 meters Relay. One remarkable achievement came in far away Stuttgart, Germany, 1980 when the national team set an African record. In the United States, she was the Lady Gators relays champion for three consecutive years : 1979,1980 and 1981. The Penn Relays fetched her the runner-up position.
It is difficult to forget that she was at the Moscow’80 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, the Nigerian team captained by Hamed Adio, came back empty handed. In Athletics , the 4×100 metres men’s quartet of Adio, Kayode Elegbede, Samson Oyeladun and Peter Okodogbe finished seventh in the final.
The Green Eagles, reigning African champions who could not qualify for the Games but we’re drafted after some countries boycotted, were knocked out in the first round. The story was that they were able to hold eventual champions, Czechoslovakia, to a 1-1 draw.
A year after the Moscow outing, the athete stunned many when she won the Kaduna zone of the Miss Nigeria 1981 Beauty Pageant ahead of Amina Mohammed. That made her one of the nine finalists that made it to the Banquet Hall of the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos on October 31.
With statistics of 35-26-38, she thrilled the audience with her African dancing steps and also did a song in Edo. She was the only graduate in the pack. There were four undergraduates. The rest were working in decent organisations. One of them, Joyce Onofowokan, a wildlife officer animated the evening when she said she got the support of Lions in the zoo.
Elumelu finished as First Runner-up. For that she got a Volkswagen Beetles car donated by Florence Ita-Giwa, two silk outfits worth 600 Naira and a refrigerator from Doyin Motors. Part of her bounty were 10 cartons of St. Raphael’s wine.
The Crown went to Tokunboh Onanuga, a student of the University of Ibadan. However, Elumelu almost got the crown when the Queen ran into stormy weather following allegations that there were discrepancies in her profile. The organisers of the competition were left with more questions than answers.
This Elumelu today stands on her own. She is neither related to Tony Elumelu, the Heir who controls UBA, nor Ndudi, his brother, the politician. The men are of the same parents as Amechi, the police officer who worked with Late First Lady, Stella Obasanjo, as ADC.
The male Elumelus hail from Onicha Ukwu, children of Dominic,a police officer, who was buried in Ibadan. Joan is first daughter of Chief Morgan Elumelu of Onicha Olona, the hometown of Col. Conrad Nwawo. All of them are from Delta State.
