With the ends of her long hair curled with a flat iron and carefully pencilled eyebrows, Phromanas Jumpa looks like an idol or influencer. She is neither. Better known as Mod, the 27-year-old is one of Thailand’s up-and-coming gamefowl breeders, rising to prominence as “The Angel of Gamefowl” after entering the TV talent show “Super 100”.

Breeding as a new financial opportunity has led to a steady change in the sport’s demographic, increasingly attracting more low-income opportunists or women like Mod. Her hero, Bird S. Meesuwan, won a record breaking 70M Thai baht (almost $2M USD) in January 2022 with his prized gamefowl “Trickster” ; but the wealth he anticipates from Trickster’s offspring will far surpass that. Once sold, the young birds are packaged into boxes and loaded onto a truck for national and international delivery. Like Bird, Mod sees overseas buyers as an important way to expand her business. In a country with one of the widest wealth gaps in the world, gamefowl breeding has become a rare gateway to upward social mobility. Shot and written for Al Jazeera English.