Winnie Harlow, born Chantelle Brown-Young on July 27, 1994, is a Canadian fashion model, spokesperson and activist. She gained prominence as a contestant on the 21st cycle of the U.S. television series America’s Next Top Model, while having a prominent form of the skin condition vitiligo. Take a look below for 21 more interesting and awesome facts about Winnie Harlow.
1. Harlow was born in Toronto, Ontario, the daughter of Lisa Brown and Windsor Young.
2. She’s of Jamaican ancestry and has two sisters.
3. She was diagnosed with the chronic skin condition, characterized by depigmentation of portions of the skin, at the age of four.
4. Harlow was a victim of bullying by other children and was reportedly called a, “cow, zebra and all manner of other disparaging slurs,” through her childhood.
5. The verbal harassment led to her changing schools many times and dropping out of high school, after which she contemplated committing suicide.
6. Harlow was discovered by America’s Next Top Model host Tyra Banks on Instagram, and subsequently became one of the fourteen finalists of the twenty-first cycle in 2014.
7. She was the first and only Canadian ever cast on America’s Next Top Model.
8. Harlow was eliminated in the second week of the finals, and participated in a separate competition called the “comeback series,” where she continued to participate in the cycle’s photo shoots along with the other eliminated contestants in an effort to return to the competition.
9. After completing the comeback series, she was revealed to have received the highest average public vote score, and returned. However, she was eliminated again in episode 13, placing sixth overall.
10. Following her elimination from American’s Next Top Model, Harlow modeled for the Spanish clothing brand Desigual and became their official brand representative.
11. In September 2014, she walked and closed for the clothing brand Ashish for their spring and summer 2015 collection in London Fashion Week.
12. She has modeled for fashion magazines such as i-D and Dazed, and for the fashion website Showstudio.com.
13. In 2015, Harlow modeled for the Italian clothing brand Diesel for its spring and summer 2015 campaign, which was shot by British fashion photographer Nick Knight.
14. She modeled for the Spanish and Italian editions of Glamour magazine and was featured in the August and September 2015 issue of Complex magazine.
15. She was featured in the August 2015 issue of Cosmopolitan.
16. She was featured on Vogue Italia’s website in an interview and accompanying photo shoot.
17. In August 2015, Harlow shot the cover of and an accompanying editorial spread in the September issue of Ebony magazine, where she appeared alongside former America’s Next Top Model contestant Fatima Siad.
18. In 2016, Harlow was featured in a commercial for Sprite, and was featured in a campaign for Swarovski.
19. In July 2011, Harlow posted a YouTube video titled “Vitiligo: A Skin Condition, not a Life Changer,” where she talked about the condition and answered questions about her life living with vitiligo.
20. In November 2014, Harlow spoke in a TED presentation, recalling her experience with living with vitiligo.
21. In October 2015, Harlow spoke at the Dove Self-Esteem Project panel at the 2015 Women in the World Summit.