Alek Wek Quotes
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At times, we take freedom for granted. We really don't know how to cherish the freedom we have until it's taken from us.
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You can feel very strongly that someone doesn't like you. I think any model who didn't have the same sort of upbringing as me would find that very difficult. But I absolutely knew I was entitled. I never thought I was ugly - it never crossed my mind.
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I use Johnson & Johnson! I use their baby oil gel.
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I used to have nightmares about the civil war when I got to England at ages 14 to 15. It took me some years to get over that.
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Don't focus on negative things; focus on the positive, and you will flourish.
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I've seen mothers and children really being vulnerable in the refugee camps; it's supposed to be temporary, but they end up having children who have grown up in refugee camps.
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Beauty does not mean one thing but not something else.
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In restaurants in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I always ask for a doggie bag to bring the leftovers home.
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There are mothers who sew for six months to make a fashion collection - someone's grandmother, someone's sister. We come in and get paid to walk for 10 minutes at the end. Whenever I think about that, I realise it's not about me. I was just the one chosen to represent those women and sell the clothes.
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I believe we should utilise any power we have for important issues that are bigger and beyond us. Whether it's with refugees or working to educate kids. I don't think you need to have gone through a civil war to do something. I believe as human beings, we can look out for each other.
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I've eight brothers and sisters - five girls, four boys. I am the seventh.
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My life was filled with family in South Sudan. I am the seventh of nine children, and we grew up in what would be considered a middle-class family. We did not have a lot, but we did have more than a lot of other people.
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When I was a girl, civil war in Sudan forced me to flee my home town of Wau.
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True beauty is born through our actions and aspirations and in the kindness we offer to others.
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I meet and talk to women from every corner of this planet, and I can find beauty in each and every one of them.
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When I started, I'd hear other people saying, 'God, she's so bizarre-looking,' because I didn't look like the girl next door. But I was just normal. I was the girl next door. There were people in high fashion I could better relate to who were doing something more interesting and not talking this sort of rubbish.
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It was the most exciting thing to leave secondary school and go to college, to have that freedom to study whatever I wanted.
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The fact that designers like Lagerfeld, Gaultier, Galliano and Dior could believe in Alek made me believe in myself, too.
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When you give, you receive.
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You could fancy what you'd like, but as a woman, my mother always raised us to believe in ourselves. I am very grateful that my mother brought me up that way.
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I think beauty is not just about what we put on our heads or on our faces or what we wear: it's deeper than that, and if we can celebrate that, celebrate the women, not just the superficiality... I think it would be really gorgeous.
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I've always loved to paint - I was studying to do an art degree when I was approached to become a model - and I've being doing some design work as well. I also love just having a quiet time, sitting in my little library at home in Brooklyn and reading or watching documentaries or listening to music.
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My father made sure of discipline, but my mum, she was serious business.
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Starting modeling in the '90s, it was quite surreal. They were like, 'You're so different! So weird! So bizarre!' And I'm like, 'I'm so normal. What are you talking about?'