25-year-old Teddy Quinlivan is already making history & shattering glass ceilings. Teddy is the first openly transgender model to be hired by Chanel.
She will be featured in Chanel’s new beauty campaign & will become a spokeswoman for the ads overall. She made the announcement in an Instagram post earlier this week.
"I am the first openly trans person to work for the house of Chanel, and I am deeply humbled and proud to represent my community." she wrote on Instagram.
"My whole life has been a fight," she wrote on Instagram. "From being bullied at school consistently, kids threatening to kill me and going into graphic detail how they were going to do it, my own father beating me and calling me a fagot, to receiving industry blowback after speaking publicly about being sexually assaulted on the job... This was a victory that made all of that s*** worth it."
This is so groundbreaking for major fashion houses like Chanel to become inclusive. Currently there's very few openly transgender models. There's Leyna Bloom who was the first trans woman of color to walk in Victoria's Secret fashion show.
Then there's Tracey Africa Norman who was the first trans woman of color to appear on the Clairol Born Beautiful Box in 1975 and last bit certainly not least Isis king who was the first transgender contestant on America's Next Top Model.
Teddy’s success shows us that when we fight, pray and put God first anything is possible!