Bethann Hardison: Octogenarian, fashion dynamo, and the epitome of Black excellence. In 1973, she rose to fame as one of the first Black supermodels; in 1984, she founded the modeling agency Bethann Management, responsible for signing mega-stars Veronica Webb and Tyson Beckford; in 1988, she co-founded the Black Girls Coalition to spread racial awareness within the fashion and beauty industry; in 2013, she called out specific designers (Miuccia Prada and Calvin Klein among them) who mostly excluded Black models from the runway; and in 2020, she rallied again to funnel #BlackLivesMatter activism into a more accessible and equitable fashion industry for Black talent.
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