Naomi Campbell, 1970

Naomi Elaine Campbell was born in London, England. Until age two, she lived in Rome, where her mother worked as a dancer. Then, she returned to live with relatives in London while her mother toured with her dancing company.

At the age of three, she began attending the Barbara Speake Stage School, and at 10, she enrolled in the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts to study ballet.

In 1986, while window-shopping in Covent Garden, Campbell was scouted by the head of the Synchro Model Agency, making her first cover shoot for Elle magazine a month before her 16th birthday.

From that on, her career took off, walking the runway for top designers, such as Gianni Versace and Isaac Mizrahi, and working with A-list photographers, including Bruce Weber and Peter Lindbergh. Within only a few years, alongside Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington, Campbell formed the Trinity trio, which marked the beginning of the supermodels’ era.

As one of the most recognizable and sought-after models, Campbell often broke the color barrier and made history as the first black cover girl in several magazines, including British Vogue (1987), French Vogue (1988), American Vogue (1989), and Time (1991).

In the mid-1990s, Campbell began to branch out of modeling. In 1994, she published her first book, a novel titled Swan, released an album called Baby Woman, had various roles in films and TV shows, and in 1999, at 29, she signed with Cosmopolitan Cosmetics and launched her first signature fragrance.

Over the following decades, Campbell continued to model both on the runway and for magazines and advertising campaigns for brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Victoria’s Secret, and Louis Vuitton. She also developed her TV persona, serving as a coach and judge for the modeling competition The Face and as a recurring character in the drama Empire and American Horror Story: Hotel.

Despite her supermodel status and being the most famous black model of her time, Campbell encountered bias in the fashion industry and didn’t receive as many campaigns as her white colleagues. Throughout her career, she was outspoken about the subject, and in 2013, together with fellow black models Bethann Hardison and Iman, she established the Diversity Coalition.

In addition to fighting against racism and discrimination, Campbell has been using her fame to advocate for many causes. She is involved with various non-profit organizations, from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund to the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer. In 2005, she founded the organization We Love Brazil to fight poverty in Brazil. That same year she established Fashion for Relief, which organizes fund-raising fashion shows for the victims of humanitarian crises such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the earthquake in Japan in 2011, and the 2017 Syrian refugee crisis. She also serves as the honorary president of Athla Onlus, which works for the social integration of people with learning disabilities in Italy, and as a goodwill ambassador for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.