21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 11

Naomi Sims is the first Black supermodel in history - certainly, the first Black cover girl to land the featured cover photo in major magazines like Life and Cosmo in the 1960s and 1970s

With a dark complexion, a thin body, and standing 5’ 10 she says she was not considered beautiful to others as a teenager. She thought otherwise.

She created a master plan to break into the racist modeling industry. When no agency would sign her, she represented herself and booked an advertising job and then - with that success - helped launch a brand new agency, Wilhelmina. It became the most prestigious agency in America.

At the height of the Black Power Movement, Naomi Sims became the very face of the “Black is Beautiful” ethos.

Sims went from modeling to mogul when she earned a cool 5 million in the 80s through a cosmetic and wig line developed expressly for Black women.

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 11 | Naomi Sims