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Victoria’s Secret has an openly transgender woman for the first time, Valentina Sampaio, age 22 has been hired for the catalog work for Victoria’s Secret PINK, the company’s athletic line agent.
Her agent, Erio Zanon, said that the Brazilian model “believes that this is a great opportunity to break barriers” in the fashion business “and to contribute to a bigger representation for everybody.”
“Never stop dreaming,” she wrote on Instagram
It was only last year that Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer of the lingerie company’s parent organization, L Brands, expressed a lack of interest in casting transgender models. He later apologized for the remark on Twitter.
Please read this important message from Ed Razek, Chief Marketing Officer, L Brands (parent company of Victoria’s Secret). pic.twitter.com/CW8BztmOaM
— Victoria’s Secret (@VictoriasSecret) 10 de noviembre de 2018
On Monday, the company announced to employees that Mr. Razek was retiring. GLAAD, which promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, said Ms. Sampaio’s hiring comes as transgender people are becoming more visible in advertising, including in campaigns by Calvin Klein, Gap and H&M.
This isn’t the first time Sampaio has broken a glass ceiling in fashion. The model was also the first trans woman to grace the cover of any edition of Vogue back in 2017. The then-20-year-old was featured in the March issue of flagship magazine Vogue Paris.
