Saint’s Arnold twins ‘Rolling with Deiwght Peters’ - Join TVJ’s premiere from Europe

When Saint International CEO Deiwght Peters ‘rolls’ on to local television screens this Sunday with his new eponymous lifestyle show, viewers will be in for a treat with an impressive, multi-continental slate of interviewees. Two guests close to his heart on the premiere episode will be Jamaican Saint model twins Noella and Nickosha Arnold, who now call Switzerland and Norway home, respectively.

Checking in for the launch of TVJ’s Rolling with Deiwght Peters by Zoom from Europe, the Arnold twins, who were scouted by Peters while at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus, told The Gleaner modelling careers were not on their radar at the time.

“I went to London after my first year at UWI and while there, I was asked all the time if I was a model,” shared Noella. “When I returned to Jamaica, I was telling my cousin Terry, who, unbeknown to me was signed to Saint, and she said ‘I know exactly where you need to go’ and she set up a meeting with Deiwght (DP).”

Naturally, the savvy model-maker, with a keen eye for talent, inked exclusive representational contracts with the twins.

“I used summer holidays to go to New York to get modelling jobs. DP also worked for us to get jobs from home. For example, he was responsible for me getting a United Colours of Benetton campaign booking from his Kingston office,” Noella said. Now a married mother with two young boys, Noella works in public relations management in Zurich.

Nickosha, an attorney-at-law who worked with the United Nations in Oslo, recalled her model beginnings at Saint. “I saw that the world was accessible,” she explained. “After Deiwght placed me in South Africa to work for some time, I realised I could go anywhere I wanted. Before that, I never would have thought that going to school in Europe was a possibility for me. But Deiwght always told us and showed us that the world is big, not so big that you should be afraid but big enough for you to go and take it on. He had models from all walks of life in Singapore, Spain, Greece, for example.”

Between them, besides being former mainstays at New York and London fashion weeks, the now 39-year-old Arnold twins shot editorials for Marie Claire, Love, Black Book, Time Out New York while doing campaigns for Virgin Mobile and Benetton.

“The Arnold twin girls were stunning models with impressive intellect and personality who did well. But I honestly believe that they would have been megastars today, with the advance made in diversity with a new open-minded cadre of stylists, casting directors, creative directors at design houses and even fashion editors who are now plugged into the advancing new paradigm,” Peters shared with The Gleaner.

Noella revealed that after giving up her PR job at a boutique architecture firm to become an at-home mother to raise her five- and two-year-old sons, she’s ready to “dust off my laptop and I have decided to enrol in a master’s programme starting next summer”.

Her sibling Nickosha, who also has two children of her own, divulged: “After baby number two, I decided to leave my UN job to concentrate on family but I plan to get back in the workplace in a less demanding capacity in the future. I conceptualised Magic & Mimosa Oslo, where I organise brunch events specifically for black women in the city.” Viewers can expect to visually experience some of the Magic & Mimosa exclusively on Rolling with Deiwght Peters.

Motherhood and family notwithstanding, the Arnold twins have not hung up their heels and still frequently book assignments for such European clients as Swiss Air, Mode Suisse and Wella Professionals.

Saint celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, marked by unprecedented success in the global fashion industry with its models working with the most recognised brands and labels.

Rolling with Deiwght Peters airs Sunday afternoons at 4:00 (repeating on Wednesdays at 1:05 p.m.) exclusively on Television Jamaica, beginning September 6.