Alek Wek

I'm an artist at heart.

There are people who can look out for other human beings, there are people who can ...
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You could fancy what you'd like, but as a woman, my mother always raised us to ...
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I grew up in a small town in Sudan. There weren't many cars, so we did ...
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There's one thing we all share: We eat to nurture ourselves, to feel stronger.

All the exhausting aspects of my job are made worthwhile because I get to experience so many different cultures. It makes you really appreciate the memories.

Beauty should not be culturally relevant, it should be universal.

Beauty is subjective and should not be limited to only what we see on the outside.

Bones inside clothes. That was war to me.

Don't focus on negative things, focus on the positive, and you will flourish.

Black girls, I feel, rock, in so many ways, especially coming from five girls.

Education is the key to the future.

Everything has to do with education: If you educate the girls, you educate the family, the community, and society, in general.

For me, it always goes back to what my mother taught me and my sisters. That all women are beautiful, and we should embrace each other.

Going on safari in South Africa was hardcore but a lot of fun - though my friend Maura was absolutely freaking out about all the bugs in her hair and having to pee in the sand.

From nine years old, I lived with fear. I saw our neighbours disappearing. I was scared that I would come home from school and my parents would not be there.

I am not really into buying a lot of expensive things.

Having arrived in London to seek refuge during the civil war in Sudan, where I was born, the thing I'm most proud of is having totally evolved. I came here not knowing how to speak English, but I went to school and learned, I adapted to this new culture.

I am so impressed by UNHCR staff who live and work side by side with the refugees. It's really remarkable.

I don't even know where to start in terms of people having such an issue about color, especially being dark. I just think on different levels it's ignorance, it's no belief, no confidence, it's insecurity, so you want to inflict it on somebody else.

I don't understand when people are being greedy or mean, when they say who should get what, when they get control of someone else's life.

I grew up in a small town in Sudan. There weren't many cars, so we did things in the countryside near where we lived.

I grew up in southern Sudan, one of nine children. Our life was simple but very happy.

I feel, in 2015, when we see human beings and children dying to cross the ocean, trying to find safety, something more must be done to help them because refugees are just like me and you.

I have eight brothers and sisters, so I'd like to have a few children.

I have short hair. It doesn't make me more unattractive than a woman or my sisters that have more longer hair and a bit lighter.

I like to accept it all, the negative and the positive.

I like unique little boutique hotels, such as Blakes in London.

I love cooking. I love having friends around.

I never thought I would see a free South Sudan.

I meet and talk to women from every corner of this planet, and I can find beauty in each and every one of them.

I think the fashion industry has gotten to a place where it is embarrassing.

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.

I still have dreams in which someone is coming to the door.

I was working part-time as a cleaner while I was going to college and then babysitting after school.

I would love to continue to model but also have a family.

In restaurants in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I always ask for a doggie bag to bring the leftovers home.

I'm an artist at heart.

If my mother hadn't encouraged me, I would be nervous and feeling like I'm doing something wrong.

It's a small world when you're from South Sudan.

It's an awful feeling, being hungry.

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.

It's sometimes tiring to get off a long-haul flight and go straight to the studio for a shoot, but if you really plan everything well, you can get so much out of combining travel with work.

I've eight brothers and sisters - five girls, four boys. I am the seventh.

Leaving southern Sudan as a child was terrifying. It was 1985, and my family and I were trying to escape to Khartoum, the capital in the North, to safety.

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.

Many live to eat, instead of the other way around.

London is like my second home. I've still got friends there from school and from when I first started in the modelling business - people such as Karen Elson, Jasmine Guinness, Jade Parfitt.

My commitment to refugees comes from a very personal place.

My experience as a refugee had made me strong, I could survive anything, even the world of fashion.

My family is the most important thing to me.

My father made sure of discipline, but my mum, she was serious business.

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.

My mother always has embedded in us that you guys rock in different ways, and to be able to celebrate that with each other is just beautiful.

Restaurants serve huge portions on even huger platters, and people are tempted to eat too much.

South Sudanese people are rich like the soil, they just need a little water, and they will grow.

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?'

The beauty of reading is that it lets you travel in a way you could never know.

There are people who can look out for other human beings, there are people who can speak up when something is not right and say, 'This is wrong, and something should be done.'

The most beautiful things are not associated with money, they are memories and moments. If you don't celebrate those, they can pass you by.

There are tons of black girls modeling, and each one is special.

There was no concept of fashion and catwalk shows where I came from.

True beauty is born through our actions and aspirations and in the kindness we offer to others.

War tore my family apart.

There's one thing we all share: We eat to nurture ourselves, to feel stronger.

We eat to live.

We survived on natural resources, so we should take care of the earth. When I leave home, I do things like switching off the heat and lights.

When I first started modeling, I realised I was very different from many of my colleagues, but I welcomed the opportunities my career in fashion offered me and the support from many inspiring individuals in the fashion industry.

When I first started working with World Vision, I would sit down and talk with them about issues that concern any part of the world. MSF told me about what was going on in North Korea. I also support AIDS and breast cancer charities.

When I started modeling, it was like, 'Oh, she's too dark,' and I kind of looked at them like, 'You're too daft.'

When I talk, it shouldn't just be black girls listening.

When I think of 'Instagram models,' I say you have to take baby steps. You cannot just walk straight onto the runway.

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.

When I was 14, I came to school in London. I remember it was very cold, but also having to adjust and become fluent in English.

When I was 10 years old, I fled my homeland amid the bomb blasts of civil war in Sudan.

When I was growing up, my mother taught me and my sisters to celebrate each other - there was no room in our household for negativity. She taught us to embrace each other, and this was empowering for us. She also taught us the value of celebrating our differences.

When I was working, there was no digital. We actually worked, we used Polaroids.

When I was a girl, civil war in Sudan forced me to flee my home town of Wau.

When you give, you receive.

Whenever I feel I am going through my own 'little' challenging moment, I just think about my mom.

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.

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.

You've got to make yourself happy. I'm a happy person naturally.