Alek Wek

Alek Wek
Wek at the Red Collection 2007 for The Heart Truth campaign
Born	(1977-04-16) 16 April 1977 (age 39) Wau, South Sudan
Spouse(s)	Riccardo Sala
Modeling information
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Hair color	Dark Brown
Eye color	Brown
Manager	Storm Models, London

Alek Wek (born 16 April 1977) is a South Sudanese-British model and designer who began her fashion career at the age of 18 in 1995. She has been hailed for her influence on the perception of beauty in the fashion industry. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in South Sudan, but fled to Britain in 1991 to escape the civil war in Sudan. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Alek was born in Wau in Sudan (now South Sudan), in a two-bedroom house without electricity or running water, and is the seventh of nine children. Her mother Akuol (b. 1946) was a housewife, and her father Athian (1933–1985) was an education official. Her name reportedly means "Black Spotted Cow". Alek has stated that physically, she resembles her father, who was 6'5" and also had unusually long limbs. Alek suffered from the skin condition psoriasis from infancy until age 14.

When the civil war broke out in Wau in 1985, the Alek family had to flee from both rebel and government forces. Her father, Athian, once broke his hip in a bicycle accident, and his hip was repaired with metal pins. Long periods of walking caused Athian's hip to get infected, and upon the family's return to Wau, he became paralysed and endured a haemorrhage. He died at a relative's home in Khartoum.

After arriving in London at age 14, Alek's psoriasis immediately cleared, possibly due to the damp climate. She enrolled in London's College of Fashion with a concentration in Fashion Business and Technology.

Alek was discovered at an outdoor market in 1995 in Crystal Palace, London by a Models 1 scout. She appeared in the music video for "GoldenEye" by Tina Turner that year, and shortly thereafter began fashion modeling. She was signed to Ford Models in 1996 and also appeared in the "Got 'Til It's Gone" music video by Janet Jackson that year. She was named "Model of the Year" in 1997 by MTV, and was the first African model to appear on the cover of Elle that year.