Motunrayo often called Ayo, Mo or Morayo; this is the beauty of Yoruba names, names that are sentences and can be nicked to funky nicknames.

 

She was the creative director of Ayo Van Elmar. 

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Beautiful, empathic, kind and intelligent Ayo has a loving heart and is always ready to help and support others.

 

She moved to Vienna, Austria, at the age of 17 and registered Ayo Van Elmar as a fashion label with four friends who are business professionals in non-fashion related industries. 

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Her higher education began with life sciences, and she earned a degree from the University of Vienna, where she studied Nutrition Sciences.

 

After that journey, she completed a five years magister (Diploma) programme of Fashion Design from the University of Applied Arts Vienna, one of Europe's most renowned art universities. In 2020, Ayo embarked on an executive MBA programme at HEC Paris, the Nr. 1 ranked business school in Europe where she has specialised in Luxury today and tomorrow. 

 

Together with her business partners,

Ayo is committed to impacting lives through successful business ventures, training African youth, especially women to become professionals in the fashion industry. 

 

Ayo founded the Sunshine Project, a charity mission in 2012 and has completed several campaigns to meet the social needs of under-privileged children. Ayo devotedly supports social projects across Africa, helping mothers and young women to earn sustainable income.

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Ayo is energetic and optimistic, a purpose-driven leader and a natural-born business enthusiast.

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Ayo is currently on an indefinite pause from creating collections for Ayo Van Elmar, while she focuses on reinforcing her knowledge, skills and network in the European art of luxury business.