Victoria’s Secret Just Hired its First Openly Transgender Model

Meet Valentina Sampaio, the lingerie giant’s first transgender model.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd409CPgHtQ

After announcing that this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show would be canceled due to declining ratings and controversy over a lack of diversity, the lingerie brand has hired its first openly transgender model, Valentina Sampaio.

The Brazilian model posted on Instagram and tagged Victoria’s Secret along with the hashtags #vspink, #campaign and #diversity, which first sparked rumors that the brand had hired a transgender model.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0oDsqnC2am

She then posted a video with similar hashtags that further fueled the rumors.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0q8V_XCOgG

Her agent Erio Zanon confirmed the rumors and told CNN that Sampaio had indeed been hired for a Victoria’s Secret PINK campaign that’ll be released this month. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwut9CrhR-2

The news comes after chief marketing officer Ed Razek was criticized for a 2018 Vogue interview about casting the runway show in which he said: “It’s like, why doesn’t your show do this? Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special.”

Well, it looks like Sampaio is finally making that “fantasy” a reality. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuFDu3fB3tPhttps://www.instagram.com/p/Bd2RnulgKbDhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BaWkr7bAe-9