“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.”

South Sudanese-British model and designer

Alek Wek is a South Sudanese-British model and designer, born in 1977. She began her fashion career at 18, in 1995, and became known for reshaping ideas of beauty in the fashion industry. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in South Sudan and fled to Britain in 1991 during the civil war in Sudan. In 2015, she was named one of the BBC's 100 Women.