FACES: Nadja Giramata
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Nadja Giramata is an inspiration. Her successful modeling career has given her a spotlight she never thought she would have. She has a long list of modeling gigs including Anne Klein, Nars, and Topshop. Giramata is an in-demand and talented model in the industry.
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Giramata, who is a Strasbourg, France native has come a long way in her life. In 1994 when she was just 3 years old, she became an orphan. Her mother, brother, grandmother, and cousins were killed in the Rwandan genocide. Nadja has been a survivor her whole life–she survived the horrific ethnic cleansing and a refugee camp filled with people dying from cholera. Experiencing these horrors as such a young child has made her understand that nothing good can come from a divided world. In an interview with Forbes, Giramata talked about her goals in life: “One of my goals is to become the voice of the forgotten ones, orphans or victims of sexual abuse. These victims — women and children — are the most vulnerable of society, and maybe my life, my past, could show them that their lives do not end where they have been robbed.” Her resiliency and passion for making the world a better place is truly inspiring.
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Girmata eventually ended up in England where she studied languages at Manchester Metropolitan University. She now speaks six different languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, English, and her African language. Giramata is obviously an ambitious, hard working, and intelligent woman. While she was in Manchester, she was scouted by a modeling agency. Before being scouted, she had dreams of becoming a model. When she was just six or seven years old, she saw Naomi Campbell walk the runway with so much grace and beauty on TV, and that stuck with her throughout her life. For a while she held onto her modeling dreams, but felt that it would never happen, so she gave up on those dreams–that was until she was scouted. Since then, her modeling career has taken off.
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Within the first two years of her career, Giramata walked for Tom Ford, appeared in Vogue Italia, and was in a huge Topshop campaign. As a model she gets to meet many different people, she told WWD, and she gets to practice speaking languages with people. Many of her jobs have been editorials such as Vogue, i-D, Schön, and Hunger Magazine. She also told WWD that one of her favorite jobs was the Topshop campaign–it was her first campaign, which she’ll always hold close to her heart.
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Nadja Giramata’s success was thoroughly earned because of her hard work. Her life experiences have shaped her into a forgiving and loving individual that wants to spread more love across the world. She told Forbes: “When you love yourself enough, and the right way, you can only love the other, and with love comes respect, honor, inclusiveness, forgiveness... Real love can never accept any type of rejection or racism.” Giramata has continued to use her platform to spread love and hope throughout the world.