If you'd been on the cover of a magazine when I was growing up, I would have had a different notion of who I was, as Oprah said when Alek was on her show. Alek was born in Southern Sudan and reared among the Dinka people.
The civil conflict prompted her and her younger sister to flee to London, where they were eventually joined by their mother and siblings. Alek was first found at a street festival in London.
She began a modeling career that has earned her accolades such as Model of the Decade from the trendsetting i-D magazine, one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in May 1999, and one of i-D and Frank magazines 50 Most Influential Faces in Fashion. Alek's effect is seen well beyond the fashion industry and cultural beauty standards.
She was part of a panel that included Hillary Clinton, Congressman Daniel Payne, Danny Glover, and many other notable speakers at the International Black Caucus Foreign Affairs. Alek has also served on the US Committee for Refugees' advisory board.
She lectures at schools in the New York region to raise awareness of the famine in Southern Sudan and to teach students about the significance of nutrition, as well as helping to launch the Bracelet of Life campaign with Medicins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders. She's also a strong advocate for AIDS awareness, children's organizations, and breast cancer research.
Advertisers are drawn to Alek's presence in equal measure. Clinique's Happy scent, Ralph Lauren, Jean-Paul Gautier, Banana Republic, Joop, Nars, Issey Miyake, Moschino, XOXO Jeans, the Gap, Ann Taylor, and Michael Kors are among her previous campaigns. Alek has also included in the Coach "Most Influential People" ad.
Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, Annie Leibovitz, Arthur Elgort, Michael Thompson, Ellen Von Unwerth, and Steven Klein are just a few of the photographers Alek has worked with.
Elle, i-D, Dutch, Essence, Russian LOficiel, London Style, Deutsch, and New York Magazine's Fashions of the Times, as well as the Sunday Style Times issue, have all had Alek on their covers.
Alek is also in high demand for prominent fashion brands like Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Christian Dior, Gucci, Fendi, Jean-Paul Gautier, Vivienne Westwood, Chanel, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, and Helmut Lang on the runway circuit. Alek has been devoting her spare time to another of her interests: design.
She's taken everything she's learned over the years in the industry and coupled it with her innate artistic skill to create a brand that truly reflects her. Alek is ready to become a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the fashion world, based on the great popularity of her particular brand of handbags (Wek 1933).
She is also seeking a career as an actress. Alek is also the author of Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel, a best-selling memoir published in September 2007.
Wek takes readers back to her hometown of Wau in southern Sudan, where she only had a few years of peace with her family before being engulfed in a brutal civil war that pitted outlaw militias, the Muslim-dominated government, and southern rebels against each other in a brutal conflict that killed nearly 2 million people.
Her heroic adventure of fleeing the war on foot, her escape to London (where her life took an unforeseen turn), and her climb to worldwide supermodel in the glittering, elitist world of fashion are all recounted.
Alek offers her views and experiences as a refugee, as well as an intimate glimpse into the life of a one-of-a-kind supermodel, in her presentations. Her narrative is likely to both inspire and educate. Alek is presently based in Brooklyn, NY.
