Yasmin Warsame photographed by Bryan Adams for Bono’s Globe and Mail

Yasmin Warsame photographed by Bryan Adams for Bono’s Globe and Mail

In today’s Africa-themed Globe and Mail, guest editors Bono (yes, that Bono) and Bob Geldof ran a profile of Somali-born, Toronto-based model Yasmin Warsame, who was photographed by Bryan Adams (yes, that Bryan Adams). Among articles about mining and Africa’s new economy, the woman Michael Kors once crowned “the next Iman” talks about being raised in Mogadishu as the youngest of 21 children. She talks about being lured to Toronto (from London, at the age of 15) by its cultural diversity; she remains here despite her international success because her son’s father lives here. The piece also has the requisite serving of humble pie: “I’m a multicultural woman,” says Warsame. “I can go home and eat with my hands, and I can come back and do my modelling. It’s wonderful.” Eating with your hands might be taboo in some haute couture circles, but not Toronto. Just ask the starving models backstage at fashion week.

Yasmin Warsame: A model citizen on—and off—the runway [Globe and Mail]