Valentina Sampaio and Emira D’Spain were the first transgender models to participate in the new and rebranded Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. The models strutted their stuff on the runway, along with legendary supermodels like Tyra Banks, Adriana Lima, and Kate Moss.
In 2018, the former chief marketing officer of Victoria’s Secret told Vogue that he didn’t believe “transsexuals” should participate in the fashion show because “the show is a fantasy” and people didn’t want to see this.
There’s no doubt that the fashion industry has placed impossible and narrow beauty standards on women. But these days, women like Valentina Sampaio and Emira D’Spain are paving the way as trailblazers. Here are some fascinating facts about them you should know!
Facts about Valentina Sampaio
1. Valentina is Brazilian. She was born in a small fishing village in Aquiraz, Ceará, to a schoolteacher mother and a fisherman father.
2. Valentina’s nationality is Brazilian, but she has a mix of Dutch, Native Brazilian, and African roots.
3. Valentina’s psychologist identified the model as trans when she was eight years old, but Sampaio only started going by the name Valentina when she was 12 years old.
4. Her parents were always proud of her, and she didn’t experience much bullying in school since, as she said in an NYT interview, “they already saw me as a little girl.”
5. Valentina initially went to school to study architecture but dropped out at the age of 16 to pursue a degree in fashion instead. While she was at school for that, she was discovered by a makeup artist and signed to a modeling agency in São Paulo as a result.
6. Her beauty secrets are drinking lots of water, wearing sunscreen daily, and using hyaluronic serum, as well as doing yoga regularly.
