17/04/2014
Alek Wek was born in South Sudan in 1977 and
raised as part of the Dinka tribe.
At the age of 14 she was forced to flee her
homeland to escape the civil war, arriving in London
as a refugee.
Her life took a new turn in 1995 when she was
spotted by a model agent in a London park,
becoming a runway success almost overnight.
In 1997, the international edition of Elle magazine
made her its first African cover star, and she was
named Model of the Year by MTV.
By 2000 she was booked
by Revlon to star in its
worldwide advertising
campaign, shot by Herb
Ritts, and she continues
to work with a number of
brands, including Chanel
Couture and YSL.
During her career she has
been named Model of the
Decade by i-D magazine,
and one of People
magazine’s 50 Most
Beautiful People.
In 2007 she published her best selling memoirs,
Alek, from Refugee to International Super model
and in 2009 she was chosen as one of a handful of
designers to create a unique piece of jewellery for
ethical diamond brand Forever mark.
She is as well-known for her charity work as her
modeling, lending real support to the United
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR),
where she serves on an advisory board to help
highlight and alleviate the plight of refugees
worldwide.
This year she spent two weeks traveling throughout
South Sudan with the UNHCR to galvanize
international support for the hundreds of
thousands of refugees still displaced.
She speaks in New York schools to empower youth
and helped launch the Bracelet for Life campaign
with Medicines Sans Frontiers.
She also works actively to raise funds for those
affected by AIDS, and with other children’s and
Breast Cancer Research charities.
She is an established designer in her own right with
a luxury handbag range established in 2001, called
WEK1933.
She's an AFRICAN ORIGINAL
