Alek Wek

To kick off Black History month right, I want to showcase a beauty who has not only taken the catwalks and modeling industry by storm but opened the doors for African and African American models of very dark complexions in an industry that barely celebrated the black beauty and if it did the complexions were not very diverse, the Naomi Campbell's and Roshumba's were the small exceptions, beautiful exceptions, but exceptions nonetheless.

This is Alek Wek, six years after leaving her native South Sudan for Britain to escape the civil war in Sudan. Discovered at an outdoor market in London in 1995, she was signed to Ford Models in 1996 and landed this cover in 1997, going down in history as the first African model to grace the cover of Elle magazine. Her skin just shines!! Thank you to Alek for being a beauty pioneer!