I like unique little boutique hotels, such as Blakes in London.
— Alek Wek
When I started, I'd hear other people saying, 'God, she's so bizarre-looking,' because I didn't look like the girl next door. But I was just normal. I was the girl next door. There were people in high fashion I could better relate to who were doing something more interesting and not talking this sort of rubbish.
I grew up in a small town in Sudan. There weren't many cars, so we did things in the countryside near where we lived.
When I talk, it shouldn't just be black girls listening.
I love cooking. I love having friends around.
There's one thing we all share: We eat to nurture ourselves, to feel stronger.
When I was a girl, civil war in Sudan forced me to flee my home town of Wau.
I was working part-time as a cleaner while I was going to college and then babysitting after school.
It's a small world when you're from South Sudan.
I like to accept it all, the negative and the positive.
Many live to eat, instead of the other way around.
I have short hair. It doesn't make me more unattractive than a woman or my sisters that have more longer hair and a bit lighter.
My mother always has embedded in us that you guys rock in different ways, and to be able to celebrate that with each other is just beautiful.
I don't even know where to start in terms of people having such an issue about color, especially being dark. I just think on different levels it's ignorance; it's no belief, no confidence, it's insecurity, so you want to inflict it on somebody else.
I've seen mothers and children really being vulnerable in the refugee camps; it's supposed to be temporary, but they end up having children who have grown up in refugee camps.
When I think of 'Instagram models,' I say you have to take baby steps. You cannot just walk straight onto the runway.
The beauty of reading is that it lets you travel in a way you could never know.
You can feel very strongly that someone doesn't like you. I think any model who didn't have the same sort of upbringing as me would find that very difficult. But I absolutely knew I was entitled. I never thought I was ugly - it never crossed my mind.
It's sometimes tiring to get off a long-haul flight and go straight to the studio for a shoot, but if you really plan everything well, you can get so much out of combining travel with work.
There are tons of black girls modeling, and each one is special.
Starting modeling in the '90s, it was quite surreal. They were like, 'You're so different! So weird! So bizarre!' And I'm like, 'I'm so normal. What are you talking about?'
Whenever I feel I am going through my own 'little' challenging moment, I just think about my mom.
I grew up in southern Sudan, one of nine children. Our life was simple but very happy.
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.
When you give, you receive.
I've eight brothers and sisters - five girls, four boys. I am the seventh.
Restaurants serve huge portions on even huger platters, and people are tempted to eat too much.
I think beauty is not just about what we put on our heads or on our faces or what we wear: it's deeper than that, and if we can celebrate that, celebrate the women, not just the superficiality... I think it would be really gorgeous.
Black girls, I feel, rock, in so many ways, especially coming from five girls.
Everything has to do with education: If you educate the girls, you educate the family, the community, and society, in general.
There was no concept of fashion and catwalk shows where I came from.
I think the fashion industry has gotten to a place where it is embarrassing.
Going on safari in South Africa was hardcore but a lot of fun - though my friend Maura was absolutely freaking out about all the bugs in her hair and having to pee in the sand.
When I was 14, I came to school in London. I remember it was very cold, but also having to adjust and become fluent in English.
All the exhausting aspects of my job are made worthwhile because I get to experience so many different cultures. It makes you really appreciate the memories.
You've got to make yourself happy. I'm a happy person naturally.
We eat to live.
War tore my family apart.
My commitment to refugees comes from a very personal place.
London is like my second home. I've still got friends there from school and from when I first started in the modelling business - people such as Karen Elson, Jasmine Guinness, Jade Parfitt.
I am not really into buying a lot of expensive things.
In restaurants in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I always ask for a doggie bag to bring the leftovers home.
It's an awful feeling, being hungry.
You could fancy what you'd like, but as a woman, my mother always raised us to believe in ourselves. I am very grateful that my mother brought me up that way.
When I started modeling, it was like, 'Oh, she's too dark,' and I kind of looked at them like, 'You're too daft.'
I'm an artist at heart.
When I was working, there was no digital. We actually worked; we used Polaroids.
When I was growing up, my mother taught me and my sisters to celebrate each other - there was no room in our household for negativity. She taught us to embrace each other, and this was empowering for us. She also taught us the value of celebrating our differences.
