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Alek Wek From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel by Lynette R. Holloway

Indeed Alek Wek leads a glamorous life. She works as one of the top runway models in the world and her features are known worldwide-radiant skin and oval face, close-cropped natural hair and a dazzling smile. Her lean physique is grace personified on the catwalk. The model-recently-turned entrepreneur has created her own line of luxury handbags.

But life has not always been so good. Wek, a member of the Dinka tribe, grew up in southern Sudan in a town called Wau, where militias invaded and clashed with rebels in the 1980’s. Wek’s family, including her parents and siblings were forced to flee their home when she was just 9 years old.

During more strife, when she was a pre-teen, the family fled by plane to London, where she lived the life of a refugee, struggling to meet ends make ends meet, cleaning toilets, and sweeping floors and learning a foreign language. She also struggled with psoriasis, a sometimes devastating skin disease that causes the skin to flake, bump or peel. At times, her mother was forced to use a sharp knife to cut flaking bits from her head to toes.

Life, however, changed instantly when she was discovered by a modeling talent scout at a street fair. Wek tells her literal rags-to-riches story in a candid memoir FROM SUDANESE REFUGEE TO INTERNATIONAL SUPERMODEL: ALEK (Amistad, $24.95). Wek, 30, who lives in Brooklyn, takes time from her busy schedule to talk to Ebony about the book.