Alek Wek

War tore my family apart.

— Alek Wek

When you give, you receive.

— Alek Wek

We eat to live.

— Alek Wek

I am not really into buying a lot of expensive things.

— Alek Wek

I still have dreams in which someone is coming to the door.

— Alek Wek

Fashion shows are glamorous for 20 minutes.

— Alek Wek

It's an awful feeling, being hungry.

— Alek Wek

I like to accept it all, the negative and the positive.

— Alek Wek

Bones inside clothes. That was war to me.

— Alek Wek

I love cooking. I love having friends around.

— Alek Wek

You don't have to go with the crowd.

— Alek Wek

Maybe I do have a few more dresses, but I'm just like everyone else.

— Alek Wek

Beauty should not be culturally relevant; it should be universal.

— Alek Wek

I meet and talk to women from every corner of this planet, and I can find beauty in each and every one…

— Alek Wek

I have eight brothers and sisters, so I'd like to have a few children.

— Alek Wek

Pressure only makes you sick. You won't get anything positive out of it.

— Alek Wek

I think I enjoy London the best as it's where I started my career. But Paris is beautiful too.

— Alek Wek

If my mother hadn't encouraged me, I would be nervous and feeling like I'm doing something wrong.

— Alek Wek

To have this opportunity, in light of my familys struggles, made me want to create something lasting and relevant.

— Alek Wek

For me, there has never been one definition of beauty. I think we all have something to offer and when beauty shines…

— Alek Wek

I learnt just how little it takes to survive, which is why I don’t waste things – food, money, friendships or opportunities.

— Alek Wek

For me, it always goes back to what my mother taught me and my sisters. That all women are beautiful, and we…

— Alek Wek

I used to have nightmares about the civil war when I got to England at ages 14 to 15. It took me…

— Alek Wek

I had jobs from the age of 14, when I arrived in London as a refugee. Aged 17, I'd get up at…

— Alek Wek

Starting modeling in the '90s, it was quite surreal. They were like, 'You're so different! So weird! So bizarre!' And I'm like,…

— Alek Wek

It's sometimes tiring to get off a long-haul flight and go straight to the studio for a shoot, but if you really…

— Alek Wek

When I first started working with World Vision, I would sit down and talk with them about issues that concern any part…

— Alek Wek

In my country, families are raised as though they are one. Although I am from the Dinka tribe, my parents didn't raise…

— Alek Wek

I don't even know where to start in terms of people having such an issue about color, especially being dark. I just…

— Alek Wek

Having arrived in London to seek refuge during the civil war in Sudan, where I was born, the thing I'm most proud…

— Alek Wek

My mother has always instilled in us that we should carry ourselves with dignity despite the horror that came with the civil…

— Alek Wek

I've always loved to paint - I was studying to do an art degree when I was approached to become a model…

— Alek Wek

I believe we should utilise any power we have for important issues that are bigger and beyond us. Whether it's with refugees…

— Alek Wek

When it’s all said and done I would like to look back and think that I help to make modelling a possibility…

— Alek Wek

I believe that true beauty comes from inside you and that always shows through. I have no problem with whatever the next…

— Alek Wek

My commitment to refugees comes from a very personal place.

— Alek Wek

I know how it feels to go hungry.

— Alek Wek

I use Johnson & Johnson! I use their baby oil gel.

— Alek Wek

Beauty does not mean one thing but not something else.

— Alek Wek

For me, you have to have some kind of modesty.

— Alek Wek