Alek Wek

In 2002, she became an advisor to the US Committee for ‘Refugees Advisory Council’ where she helps raise awareness for the issues facing Sudan and refugees around the world.

In 2003, she entered into a relationship with an Italian real estate developer named Riccardo Sala. It was reported that the pair had split up after an affair of eleven years.

In July of 2012, she returned to her home country with the ‘UN Refugee Agency’ in an effort to spread awareness of how much work must be done to rebuild this country.

She was born to Akuol, a housewife, and Athian, an education official and was the seventh of nine children in her family. Her family grew up in extreme poverty, but Wek remembers being happy and peaceful.

She suffered from a skin condition known as psoriasis from birth until the age of 14. It cleared up because of the climate change once she moved to London with her family.

In 1985, a civil war broke out in Sudan, which caused the Wek family to flee their now dangerous home. Her father eventually died on the journey after an infection broke out in his hip due to a past surgery.

In 1991, Wek’s family finally arrived in London where Alek had a hard time adjusting to the cold climate. Bullies at school picked on her dark skin and accent. She enrolled in ‘London’s College of Fashion’ and majored in fashion business and technology.

In 1995, Wek was discovered at the age of 19 by a ‘Model 1’ scout named Fiona Ellis while she was attending a party.

In 1995, she had her first big break when she appeared in Tina Turner’s music video ‘GoldenEye’. The following year, she also made an appearance in ‘Got ‘Til It’s Gone’, a music video by Janet Jackson.

In 1996, she was signed to Ford Models, a very prestigious agency based out of New York City. Within a year of arriving in New York, she was invited to walk in Ralph Lauren’s runway show, a coveted place usually given to famous models not newbies to the business like Wek.

In 1997, she was featured on the cover of “Elle” magazine, the first African woman to have this distinction.

In 1999, she was photographed for a calendar in which the artist Joanne Gair painted her body in bright, beautiful colors.

In 2002, she made her acting debut playing a princess of Sudan in the film ‘The Four Feathers’ and starred in a campaign for the Gap.

Ralph Lauren chose her to walk in his runway show within the first year of moving to New York, an unprecedented achievement for a new model. This assignment propelled her modelling career and helped her establish a strong foothold in the white-dominated industry.

In 2007, she published an autobiographical book that detailed her journey from refugee to supermodel in order to spread awareness.