Maria Borges naturally stole the Victorias Secret Show

Listen, Maria Borges is putting everyone on notice.

Tell a friend to tell a friend and tell that Principal at Amesbury Middle School too.

MY.BLACK.IS.BEAUTIFUL. YOU.WILL.DEAL.

This is me:

Maria Borges owned her beauty at this year’s Victorias Secret Fashion Show and is being celebrated for wearing her hair naturally and I could not be prouder of my African sister. In doing so she made history. Simply by being herself.

I’ve been following her for a while now and am actually surprised I hadn’t done a profile on her! My bad.

Maria was born in Angola during the civil war and was raised by her siblings.

She has risen quite quickly through the model ranks and won numerous awards at home namely The Elite Model Look Angola in 2010 and the Ford Supermodel Angola in 2011.  She was also ranked numero uno on the Forbes Africa Magazine’s Top Model list in 2013.  It was during her competing at home that she was discovered and the rest is herstory.

She has received tremendous support from her management in London, New York and Milan but there is no support like that of the Grand Puba himself Ricardo Tisci, whom she calls her  “Godfather”. And if the Godfather embraces you just as you are, you’ve basically made it.

Maria has over 30 shows under her heels and most recently you might have seen her rocking her ‘fro in the Balmain show, Carolina Herrera Spring/Summer 2016 show (she was my FAV!) Zac Posen and Monique Llhuillier to name a few.

It was Maria’s third appearance at the VS show and she decided, according to her interview with Elle Magazine, to just to be herself and embrace her natural beauty and at the same time hope to impact other black women. This could not have come at a more significant time especially after a Principal at Amesbury Middle School here in Toronto embarrassed and chastised a Grade 8 student for wearing her hair naturally.

It is so important for young girls who look up to models such as Maria to see themselves in her and know that they too are beautiful and they do not have to conform to what other say they should look like.

Maria. BRAVO!