Iman talked with Hoda about stumbling upon the gatekept profession she later unlocked and broke barriers in.
recorded on Oct. 5 that she serendipitously stumbled upon the gatekept profession she later unlocked and broke barriers in. Iman, 67, retired from modeling in 1989, having set the standard for how to be a supermodel and how to make an industry more inclusive and equitable.Cindy Ord / Getty Images for SiriusXMIman said she was waitressing and translating travel brochures in Kenya when photographer Peter Beard stopped her on the street and asked if she'd ever been photographed.
"I will come and check" she remembered responding before flying to New York for her first visit to the city."The surroundings was quite weird because I've heard of Gotham City. God, I've heard everything about New York. I arrive here, there was actually a garbage strike. There was garbage everywhere and I thought, 'Really? This is like a third world country.
Iman said that is just one of her early experiences where she was disrespected as a Black person in the modeling industry. She said another time was on her fourth day in New York on set of her first job that she booked with American Vogue. "I was watching something that was very foreign to me," she described. The first time I was described as a Black model — I never associated myself as a Black person. I come from a country 100% Black. We never called ourselves 'We’re black.' We're Somali. It’s very obvious we're Black. And I couldn’t understand what does that mean."Iman said the bad makeup experience and being socialized as Black came with pros and cons.
Another con was learning that Black models were paid less than white models. Iman said she asked for equal pay to no avail, so she refused employment offers for three months until a job offered her the market rate. Her getting paid set the standard by which other Black models were paid, she said.
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