An Irish fashion designer has said she thought she was being scammed when she was asked to be in a new Jay-Z and Pharell Williams music video.
Florence Ojo was filmed at her home in Jobstown in Dublin for the pair’s new song, ‘Entrepreneur.’
The video features black entrepreneurs from all over the world and has been viewed more than 8.5 million times on YouTube since it was released last month.
"This is real"
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Ms Ojo said she didn’t believe it was really happening until the film crew arrived at her home.
She said she told the company they couldn’t come on a Friday because she had to work.
“Apparently they were coming from Paris,” she said. “So, I was like, ‘right, you can come on Sunday.”
“Even at that I was still really, really proud but not really believing this email. I was like, ‘right, come on Sunday, I am not going to, obviously, take time off work for something that isn’t real.’
“So, they came on Sunday and it was only when I saw the crew that I was like, ‘on my god, this is real.’
“Because obviously, they came with a van and the big cameras. There was three of them and I was like, ‘oh my god.’”
Moulded Inside Out
The 26-year-old social worker set up her ‘Moulded Inside Out’ clothing range in 2018, specialising in colourful African designs.
She said the was “rolling her eyes” when she got the email from Pharell’s management company as she presumed it was joke.
“I was like, ‘right ok, yeah, I am going to be here and Pharell is going to come and see me in this little corner of the world,’” she said.
“I didn’t think it was serious.”
She said the business has seen a big bump on the back of the video; however, her clothes have been out of stock for a while and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to build up supplies.
“We are just re-stocked now so I am really, really excited,” she said.
“I suppose, the exciting thing is that our customer base now is very diverse and I am really excited about that because that is what I have always wanted."
