Waris Dirie, an internationally renowned model who was by chance discovered by photographer Terence Donovan and who scored advertisements for top designers such as Chanel, Levi’s, L’Oréal and Revlon, was born into a nomadic clan in Galkacyo, Somalia in 1965.

At the age of thirteen, she fled her family in order to escape an arranged marriage to a much older man. She landed in London where she lived with and worked for wealthy relatives. Waris later worked at a local McDonald’s, trying to make ends meet after war broke out in her country causing the closure of the Somalian Embassy where she had previously worked.

In 1997, Waris abandoned her modeling career to focus on her work against female circumcision. That same year she was appointed by the United Nations as special ambassador for women’s rights in Africa, in its effort to eliminate the practice of female genital mutilation and in 1998, Waris authored her first book, Desert Flower, an autobiography which went on to become an international bestseller.

In 2002, she founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna, Austria, an organisation aimed at raising awareness regarding the dangers surrounding female genital cutting. Waris followed that in January 2009 with the establishment of the PPR Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights’, an organization she founded along with French tycoon Francois-Henri Pinault (CEO of PPR) and his wife, Hollywood actress Salma Hayek. Waris has also started the Desert Dawn Foundation, which raises money for schools and clinics in her native Somalia, and supports the  Zeit Foundation, an organization focused on sustainable development and conservation.

Via: wikipedia