ALEK WEK: From Refugee to Supermodel

I like Alek Wek. Even though I met the supermodel for a few minutes at BookExpo earlier this year, and during the brief introduction she was incredibly humble and sweet, I realize that I still don't know her. But I've decided that I like her nonetheless.

Needless to say, I was excited to receive my copy of her new book ALEK: FROM SUDANESE REFUGEE TO INTERNATIONAL SUPERMODEL (HarperCollins, August 2007, coauthored by Stephen Williams). The book chronicles her journey from fleeing civil war in her home country Sudan at age fourteen, being discovered at nineteen by a model scout while shopping at a London street fair, to gracing the covers of magazines, working the runways of Paris, New York, and Milan, and surviving an industry that favors Eurocentric looks.

In her book, Wek provides honest insight into the politics of identity, race, and beauty. She writes:

"Whether I like it or not, my skin defines me. The first thing many people notice about me is how dark my skin is. Not just in America and Europe but also, to a lesser extent, in Sudan. In Khartoum, my skin marked me as a southerner, probably a Dinka, and many lighter-skinned residents of the city looked down on me. Racism exists everywhere."

"I've noticed that journalists often liked to say that I'd been discovered in "the bush," in Africa. As if I had been a primeval innocent afoot in the forest when the great model agent plucked me from the muck and tamed me, without destroying my savage beauty."

"Beauty is such a subjective notion. When I was growing up, I never saw myself as beautiful. I looked like my sisters, and like most of the other Dinka girls. We were all dark, tall, and lithe. I had the added problem of psoriasis: the few times I took a look at myself in the mirror, I wasn't pleased."

The thirty-year-old proves she's more than a pretty face. She's launched her own line of handbags called Wek1933, a name that represents her father's name and the year he was born. And while she's done well financially through modeling, she's also found ways to use her celebrity to promote awareness about Sudan as well as support other charitable causes.

Just when you think that you can't overcome an obstacle or that you can't achieve your wildest dreams, there are models (pun intended) who show you otherwise.