Tanaye White: Sports Illustrated's Dynamic 2020 Model
Departing from her prestigious career in aerospace to finally pursue her dream of becoming a supermodel, Tanaye White is a paragon of combined brains and beauty. After auditioning for Sports Illustrated for the second time, White has officially become the publication’s flagship 2020 model.
White’s journeys through her endeavors are testaments to her resilience in the face of adversity, and she has thus broken ground in on multiple fronts. While she initially had to suppress her childhood interest in modeling, she nonetheless excelled in academia by earning her Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Maryland and her Master's in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from Georgetown University. These scholarly achievements launched her into a position with the world’s third-largest defense and aerospace agency. Now equipped with job security, White gained the confidence to audition as a model for Sports Illustrated. Rejection from her first audition did not deter her, either, and it was this very perseverance that made her childhood dream into a reality.
White profoundly understands the significance of her latest milestone. She is a dark-skinned black woman proudly flaunting a voluminous afro who is being exalted as a beauty icon, the kind of representation that will undoubtably empower other girls and women of her complexion and phenotype. Additionally, she wishes to challenge the falsehood of attractiveness and intelligence being mutually exclusive. Despite her demonstrably high intellect, White was constantly underestimated by her colleagues due to her appearance, a nuisance further compounded by her burgeoning modeling career. While she has left her field of study, her continued active defiance of such sexist expectations remains to be seen.
Photo credits:
https://www.popsugar.com/fashion/sports-illustrated-model-tanaye-white-interview-47624848
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tanaye-white-left-her-defense-191936603.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAMUHifBmn6PmuIKoMrC9sPlx7mELyA4vLE9ZPAWjLpD4wUaTyFV5sp89VpfCcf7mb0gldSy1MSY3s3HrbIFgIUk1zdGIAQfOOpU2HIkyU_2jpP0bvTRyqZx9WOlP5lLE06Uf9AlxgFYWFfPmuu7wt0sRVHb5e_mJCcDxpnr54jE
Report: Nia Hunt
At the rise of Covid-19 many of us first questioned the timeline of fashion week and would we see the regular calendar continue - the question weighed over many of us for months! It was refreshing to see design houses and designers across the globe take advantage of the uncertainty and plow into production mode - thus my interest in Jerri Reid New York - The Black Designer based in Brooklyn New York wow’d instagram with his latest collection paying homage to the Black Is King film which debuted earlier this year in July. I was taken aback at quick of a turn round the young designer produced and released his well crafted designs reflecting some of the films most memorable moments.