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" The truth was I felt ugly growing up. I only really started feeling comfortable in myself when I was 40. "

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" Multicultural markets are nuanced but not alien. "

" That is something that my mother instilled in me at a very young age - to know my self-worth. And I have had times again and again in the fashion industry where all of that was tested and I rose to the occasion because I was told that I am worthy and I should be able to walk away from something that is not worthy of me. "

" Bowie is just a persona. He's a singer, an entertainer. David Jones is a man I met. "

" Granted, I've changed internally as I've gotten older - I take it easy, I know when to stop and take care of myself, I laugh much more and with my belly and soul - but this comes from the confidence and acceptance that comes with maturity. "

" I wasn't a major in political science for nothing, so I understood the politics of beauty and the politics of race when it comes to the fashion industry. "

" The women I gravitate to are the ones who defy convention and reinvent themselves - hence, they reinvent the world around them. "

" One afternoon, on my way to the campus - I was majoring in political science at Nairobi University - a photographer by the name of Peter Beard stopped me in the street and asked me if I'd ever been photographed. "

" There is a lot of noise out there. I don't want to follow the trend - I want to create the trend. "

" I was raised to treat my body as a temple, but even as a little girl, I had a major issue with self-esteem. I thought there was something wrong with the temple. "

" I have no intention of ever writing beauty tips on how to make an African-American nose look slimmer or Asian eyes look bigger. That's degrading. Asian eyes are what's beautiful about you and what makes you different. "

" I believe the universe has great plans for us. When you are young, you don't learn that. "

" Life is too short not to have pasta, steak, and butter. "

Life Is Too Short

" I had never seen 'Vogue.' I didn't read fashion magazines, I read 'Time' and 'Newsweek.' "

" I would rather Google other people than Google myself. "

" I keep on 5 to 10 pounds above my jeans weight, as the ultimate no-filler-needed refresher, and buy a size up on jeans. "

" People called me 'Iman the black model'. In my country, we're all black, so nobody called somebody else black. It was foreign to my ears. "

" I speak five languages besides mine. I went to school in Egypt because girls weren't allowed to go to school in Saudi Arabia. It's very restricting, especially for girls; we're not allowed to go anywhere. "

" When everyone is telling you, 'You're so beautiful, there's nobody like you,' you begin to think it's true. But of course there is nobody like you. "

" Modeling gave me so many experiences, like traveling and being exposed to global cultures, but the most valuable lesson has been working with designers who truly are visionaries in their field. "

" Nobody has ever said to me that I was pretty, 'til I met Peter Beard. "

" My given name was Zahra, which is the 'flower of the desert.' I don't look anything like the flower of the desert. My name was changed by my grandfather to Iman, which means 'have faith.' And it meant to have faith that a daughter would come. "

" I was a very nerdy child. I never fit in, so I became laboriously studious. "

" People get numbed when they see picture after picture, year in and year out, of people starving. "

" I was not considered beautiful at all. Really. And this is what all models say. But I'm still not considered that beautiful in my country. I don't know the beauty ideal where I come from - but it's not me. "

" I suffer from low self-esteem. I had horrible self-esteem growing up. You really have to save yourself because the critic within you will eat you up. It's not the outside world - it's your interior life, that critic within you, that you have to silence. "

" I am the face of a refugee. I was once a refugee. I was with my family in exile. "

" As I always said: I fell in with David Jones. I did not fall in love with David Bowie. "

" You want a career? Do that first. You don't want to have kids? Then don't. You don't want to get married? Then don't. But once you do something, you've got to know that there is compromise. "

" I can't stand my legs, for a start, and you rarely see me in skirts. "

" Beauty is being comfortable and confident in your own skin. "