It’s been nearly four months since the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCAs) and the controversy that followed surrounding actress and entrepreneur Mercy Aigbe-Gentry’s absence from some of the best dressed lists, most prominently the ThisDay Style commemorative cover. We wrote at length about how we considered her absence telling of how non-mainstream performers are treated by traditional media outlets here and how we kind of agreed with her that she was cheated out of the publicity being on the cover a magazine of that repute could have afforded her.
But not to work, restitution comes quickly.
Four months later, and Mercy Aigbe-Gentry has hit the coveted 1 million followers on Instagram and garnered herself a loyal fanbase that stretches across the globe. She has also finally landed not one but two mainstream print magazine covers. She is Exquisite Magazine’s cover star for this month’s issue, resplendent in a Tiannah Styling gown and faux metal crown. In the issue Aigbe-Gentry talks about her life and work and how she’s moved from niche actor to all round star.
Aigbe-Gentry is also the cover star for the Guardian Magazine’s weekly fashion/lifestyle pullout magazine Guardian Life, clad in a similarly styled nude dress with floral lace cut outs and dishing on her life and work.
Landing two covers in such proximity to each other (both magazines were released in the same week) almost never happens in Nigeria and speaks to the kind of influence Mercy Aigbe-Gentry has in the industry right now.
She sells magazines.
Congratulations Mercy, this come-up is way overdue.