Alek Wek

Who is Alek Wek?

Alek Wek was born on 16 April 1977 in Wau, in what is now South Sudan, the seventh of nine children in a Dinka family. When civil war reached Wau in the mid-1980s, her family was forced to flee, and in 1991 Alek and a younger sister escaped to Britain as refugees, later reunited with other family members while some siblings resettled in Australia and Canada. After arriving in London at age fourteen, she enrolled at the London College of Fashion, and in 1995 she was discovered by a modeling scout at an outdoor market in Crystal Palace. Her striking, distinctively dark-skinned appearance broke sharply with prevailing fashion-industry beauty standards of the era, and she rapidly rose to international prominence, being named MTV's Model of the Year in 1997 and becoming one of the first Black African models to appear on the cover of Elle. She has walked runways and appeared in campaigns for major global fashion houses over a career spanning decades. In 2007 she published an autobiography, "Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel," recounting her journey from a childhood shaped by war and displacement to the international catwalk. She has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, using her platform to advocate for refugees worldwide.

Sources: Alek Wek, "Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel" (2007) · UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador biography · Forbes, "Supermodel Alek Wek On The Business Of Fashion" (2013)