Without a doubt, Iman is one of the biggest icons in the modeling industry. Alongside Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and more, few others have had a mark as impactful as Iman. But, as she explained in a recent interview, making it big took time and, most importantly, taking risks too.
“I came into the industry, although 19, but I was fully formed about my worth before I came in, as an African girl, Somali, coming from where I come from and all that,” she explained to fellow model Precious Lee, designer Aurora James and Keke Palmer for InStyle‘s 30th-anniversary cover.
“One thing that my parents instilled in me, especially as a girl, was that self-worth is key,” she continued. “And they said it to me: relationships, jobs, it doesn’t matter—if it doesn’t serve you well, it doesn’t treat you well, just walk away from it. And walking away never means you’re losing something. So I came in having that, at least, in my pocket.”
Then, as she began getting job opportunities in the U.S., those values were tested when she learned she was making less than her white counterparts. “And I was like, ‘Wait, what? And why?’ And they were like, ‘Well, that’s how it is; that’s what the clients say,'” she remembered. “And I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to do this.’ And I walked away, literally.” Talk about a fearless moment!
“I told the agent, ‘I’m not interested in the Black and white issue. I am more interested in that if I am doing the same service that the white model is doing, I expect the same payment,'” she said. “And because I was able to walk away, I didn’t work for three months, I said no to everything.”
Sure, the three months away from work must’ve been hard, but it was all worth it when she made her return. “They came around and they paid me the same amount, and that changed the discrepancy,” she stated.
“But you have to be able to walk away and it doesn’t mean that your life is going to end,” she said, giving all of the readers some expert advice. “I didn’t think my life was going to end at all. I thought I would find another job to [take care of] my parents, but I wasn’t going to flip on this.”
Looking back now, Iman knows her sacrifice not only paid off, but created a legacy.
“It’s like for me to see you and then to see Anok Yai or Adut [Akech], this is from one spectrum to the other,” she told Precious Lee. “And what does that say about beauty? It’s limitless. … Nobody ever said about Caucasian models, ‘Oh we have too many blondes, we have too many redheads.’ But they would say, ‘We only need one Black model.’ What? So to be able to see this, for me, is the fruit of our labor.”
She then humbly shouted out some other modeling trailblazers that came before her. “And there were other people before me; let’s not forget the Pat Clevelands, the Naomi Simses, who also were able to open that path for me to come through,” she said. “And then you keep the door open, you don’t close it behind you, you keep it open.”
Before you go, click here to see all of the models who’ve walked down the runway pregnant!
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