Written By: MIM!—To those familiar with African pop music, Paulo Pascoal is no stranger. The singer from Angola, was once most well-known for his love songs and signature curly long black locks. Having captured pop stardom in Angola and Portugal, (his then residences), it is easy to overlook that Paulo is also an incredibly accomplished model whose career took him to new heights, including pursuing his dream of becoming an actor. Paulo explains, "I always had passion for the arts in every form ... I call myself an accidental model because it is nothing I ever wanted to pursue but it just kept happening so I took every single opportunity thrown at me. I dream big therefore I always worked hard to have those dreams be my reality."
While Paulo thought he was on the path to realizing his dream of acting, he collapsed in 2008, only to learn that he had a brain tumor. In the brief span of two months, a 25-year old Paulo was diagnosed with cancer. He explains, "Cancer is ... everywhere these days, but you never look at those things as if they're coming to you."
Despite the devastating diagnosis and painful radiation and chemotherapy treatments which caused him to lose a significant amount of weight along wih his hair and eyebrows, Paulo considers the cancer a "blessing" that allowed him to regain focus. He explains, "I constantly gave too much importance to things that I shouldn’t ... [today] I am proudly a cancer survivor. I learned that life is not as much about the destination as how we choose to get there. No one is promised tomorrow. Today, in all it's beauty is all we have. I'm enjoying the journey of a soul man in experience seeking to love and learn eternally. I love waking up at the crack of dawn to meditate and thank God for another day. Gratitude is powerful and easily accessible to all of us.”
