Model Malaika Burks Gears up for Pittsburgh Fashion Week
By Meghan Rosedale
Pittsburgh Fashion Week is right around the corner, and model Malaika Burks could not be more excited.
“This will be the first time I’ve ever done a fashion week in Pittsburgh,” Malaika said. “I’m also excited that my Yorkie’s involved.” Together, Malaika and little Coco Chanelle will be strutting the Bark and Swagger Runway Show Friday, Sept. 23 at the Wintergarden at PPG Place. Twenty-five percent of all ticket sales will be donated to Animal Friends, a local animal shelter in Pittsburgh.
As a model who got her start at age 41, Malaika’s career has not been the most traditional. For as long as she can remember, people have told Malaika that she should be a model. Once she mustered up the courage to pursue what everyone else already saw in her, Malaika moved to Virginia to jump start her career. There, she was able to gain transformative experience through modeling boot camps, TV interviews and fashion shows. She also posed in several magazine fashion shoots for publications including L. Vision Magazine, A Little Vanity, DonSolo and StyleCruze.
Malaika is living in Pittsburgh once again, this time as a signed model to four agencies. Currently, she is looking for work that will continue to cultivate and challenge her skills. For example, she recently came back from Atlanta where she did a photoshoot with a celebrity photographer.
“That was a learning experience,” Malaika said. “Out of all these years, seven years of modeling, that was different.” She will also head to New York in July for the New York Model Tour.
Even with all this traveling, Malaika has greater aspirations. When asked where she sees herself in the fashion industry in five years, Malaika said that her goal is to become a high-fashion model in Paris.
“I’m working on that this year, next year,” Malaika said. “I’m 48 years old. I don’t have time to wait.”
You also don’t have to wait to buy tickets to see Malaika in the Pittsburgh Fashion Week Runway Show. Click here to save your seat.
