ABOUT NDOEMA
IN A NUTSHELL
NDOEMA
pronounced “en-DOY-mah”
DERIVATIONS
- African
- French
- Russian
- Sanskrit
- German
- Dutch
HEIGHT
- 6 feet
- 1 mètre 82
- 18 hands
EYES
- Brown
- Noisettes
- Morenos
HAIR
- Untamed
- Wild
- Free
WORLD’S ONLY
ex-Parisian catwalk model with three Law Degrees
BORN
Central African Republic
LIVED
- India
- Cameroon
- Switzerland
- Central African Republic
- Spain
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- France
- Central America
- the UK
- Italy
- USA
CITIZENSHIPS
- French
- Central African
- American
LANGUAGES
- French
- English
- Spanish
- Italian
- Sanskrit
- Ancient Greek (no kidding)
EDUCATION
- Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva, Switzerland)
- Harvard Law School (Boston, USA)
- École Supérieure des Hautes Études Internationales (Paris, France)
- Universidad Complutense (Madrid, Spain)
- Université Jean Monnet Paris XI (Paris, France)
- Institut de Management et de Communication Interculturels (ISI) (Paris, France)
- Parsons School of Design (New York, USA)
UNITED NATIONS
Field Assignment: The Mozambican Repatriation Operation, to date one of the largest and most successful efforts of its kind. Working in a highly sensitive and volatile cultural context, organized and ensured the safe return of thousands of refugees to their homeland, personally negotiating with both Malawian and Mozambican government officials, as well as designing and implementing innovative grassroots empowerment and leadership training programs.
TIBETAN GOVERNMENT
As a legal consultant for the Tibetan government in exile, authored highly sensitive documentation on torture and human rights violations in occupied Tibet presented before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
AUTHORED
Reports on the activities of
- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees
- The UN Conference on Disarmament
- The UN Human Rights Commission
- The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
PhD THESIS
The Transformative Power of International Human Rights Law, HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Women’s Status In Developing Countries
MASTER’S THESIS
Non-Violent Alternatives to Nuclear Deterrence
HABITUALLY MISTAKEN FOR AND EMBRACED AS
- Brazilian
- Fijian
- Moroccan
- Indian
- Malaysian
- Algerian
- Caribbean
- Cuban
- Tibetan
GASTRONOMY
Voraciously Raw Vegan
I have three citizenships. Grew up between Central African Republic, France, Cameroon and Switzerland. I’ve lived in a dozen countries around the world. Garnered a handful of law degrees, worked for the United Nations, taught fashion at Parsons and wrote my preliminary PhD thesis on AIDS and Women’s Rights in Africa. Films are my next big adventure.
Although there’s more to me than meets the eye, the visuals on this site will tell you more about me than a thousand words.
This is the place where I come to share a bit of my world. My vision. My passions… Beautiful things that make my heart sing.
I’ve seen a lot of the world and I have so much more to discover. My life’s vision and deepest conviction is that there’s so much more that unites us than separates us. Born across continents, I once felt that I belonged nowhere only to realize that I belong everywhere.
I hope you’ll feel at home here as well.
- Fashion & Photography: I love creating beautiful worlds
- Green living
- Spirituality, meditation and solitude
- Quantum Mechanics
- Empowerment, personal growth and self-transformation
- Nutrition, natural health, raw foods, juicing, cleansing
- The magical world of film and dream making
- Making the world a better place
- I’m an avid Kwan Yin collector.
- Started studying Ancient Greek at 13.
- Feel most at home in Benares, India.
- Read books backwards (last page first).
- Non-conformist to the core.
- I believe in dreams. The bigger, the better.
- Terrible at applying nail polish.
- Temporarily lost my eyesight at age 17.
- I’m not linear. Hate doing anything in a linear fashion.
- Severing all ties with my biological family was one of the most painful yet most beneficial decisions I’ve ever made.
- I’m a minimalist. But don’t ask me to travel light.
- I’m a nature girl who loves a kickass stiletto and a smoldering smokey eye.
- 2011 was a milestone of sorts with a 92-day juice fast and 40 days in total silence.
- Always striving for the next, improved version of myself.
- Lived as a hermit.
- I make a mean kimchi.
- I’ve been told my name is that of a Tibetan demon and means to weep in Shona and to praise in Nxosa.
Funny, food is the third most commonly asked question after my name and where I’m from (oh and occasionally: “is big hair back?” Uh, as far as I’m concerned it never went away…). Looks like I’m not the only one obsessing about food!
I have been thriving on a plant-based diet for over 20 years now. First as a vegetarian, then as a vegan and about 5 years ago I transitioned to a raw vegan/fruitarian lifestyle. It’s been a gradual and natural evolution. Of course switching to a meat and dairy-free diet, with no refined sugar, no refined grains, and no processed foods of any kind did wonders for me. But switching to a raw and living foods lifestyle has really been a quantum leap in terms of taking my health and life to a whole new level.
Over the years I’d certainly come to believe that what we eat is important and I’d experienced the benefits first hand. But what I’m realizing now is that nutrition can affect us well beyond our physical health and well being, it is arguably one of the most powerful self-transformational tools available to us.
I’m really passionate about nutrition and I truly believe that it could be the answer to so many ills in the world. But I’m no vegan militant. I don’t wear plastic shoes nor join street protests aimed at vilifying and shaming meat eaters. It’s just not me. I haven’t chosen to exclude animals and animal by-products from my diet for any political reason whatsoever. I’ve just never been the militant type when it comes to veganism, or any other subject for that matter. Don’t get me wrong, I love animals and would never want to hurt them personally but the impetus for my switching to a plant-based diet hasn’t been for any other consideration than the simple fact that I feel good eating and living this way.
I’m the quintessential classic movies fan. I can confidently say that I’ve seen everything under the sun between 1931 and 1961 except for the occasional C movie or non-Ford western. I’m blown away by some silent movies like:
- Fritz Lang’s M
- The Testament of Dr Mabuse
- Murnau’s Der letzte Mann
- Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc
- G. W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box
Then of course, the classic masterpieces:
- David Lean’s Great Expectations
- George Stevens’ A Place In The Sun
- Jean Negulesco’s Humoresque
- Nicholas Ray’s They Live By Night
- William Wyler’s The Heiress and Roman Holiday
- Black Narcissus & pretty much every movie photographed by Jack Cardiff…
Can’t list them all. It’s not called Hollywood’s Golden Era for no reason! Love Hitchcock… Notorious, Spellbound, Strangers On A Train…
I can watch over and over and over:
- John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle and Night of The Iguana.
- A Face In The Crowd.
- Sunset Boulevard.
- Sweet Smell of Success.
- In Cold Blood.
- Tony Richardson’s Look Back in Anger and The Loved One.
- Fellini’s 81/2.
- Ingmar Bergman’s Persona.
And a few 1970s gems: The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, Network…
I have many. I’m always striving for something greater. Both for myself and the world I live in.
- Experiencing life anchored in the direct knowledge of who I really am.
- Living off the grid in a completely self-sufficient and sustainable way.
- Empowering 55 million girls worldwide through entertainment.
