No one is calling any of these designers racist. The act itself is racist. There were more black models working in the Seventies than there are in 2013. This a time when silence is not acceptable at all. If the conversation cannot be had publicly in our industry, then there is something inherently wrong.

Iman Abdulmajid

Categorized in : Silence Black Racist

Don't be afraid to walk away from things that are just not right for you.

Iman Abdulmajid

walks

A self-esteem issue doesn't change whether you're considered beautiful or not because it's about what's inside you.

Iman Abdulmajid

issues self-esteem beautiful

I believe in glamour. I am in favor of a little vanity. I don't rely on just my genes. Looking good is a commitment to yourself and to others.

Iman Abdulmajid

vanity believe commitment

One thing my mother always instilled in me is to always know my worth. Don't settle for less. She used to say to me 'Iman, no is a complete sentence, learn to say no. You don't have to explain it you don't have to say anything after it. It's a complete sentence.' So when I came to America 1975, I found out that the black models were being paid less than white models. So the first thing I did was say I'm not going to do the job unless I'm paid the same amount.

Iman Abdulmajid

mother white jobs

For me, diversity whether you think of it as race or gender, it's not a trend, it's a human movement, it's a human feeling, it's a human desire.

Iman Abdulmajid

diversity race thinking

Make sure your decision to have a child is based on the need to share your life completely with another little human being and not because of some personal need for validation as a woman.

Iman Abdulmajid

validation decision children

The relationship I have with Bethann [Hardison], it's so unique. It's based on trust. But most importantly, Bethann is the one who will call on me if I'm doing something wrong. That's a very specific relationship.

Iman Abdulmajid

unique ifs

My saving grace was that I always knew when to leave the party.

Iman Abdulmajid

saving party grace

The one thing my mother instilled in me, well both my parents but specifically my mother - I come from a Muslim country where boys were more wanted than girls so she always made me feel that there is nothing that I couldn't do as well as the boys if not better.

Iman Abdulmajid

girl mother country

As a young girl, I was much more preoccupied by my flaws. Everyone teased me because of my long, skinny neck. To hide my so-called deformity, I was wearing a turtleneck when I was 3! Yet my neck is probably my best asset. At the end of the day, what counts is the entire package.

Iman Abdulmajid

insecurity girl long

I would rather Google other people than Google myself.

Iman Abdulmajid

google people

I come from Somalia. We start working young, and we understand that kind of life. I would be bored to death not doing anything creative.

Iman Abdulmajid

bored creative would-be

Your image as a model is your currency. That's the only thing you've got. No one cares what you look like in real life. Nobody is going to say the make up guy was terrible. They will say, you look awful and let's not book her again.

Iman Abdulmajid

guy real book

We grew up as poor people but we never knew poverty. I still love and miss the Somalia I grew up in. Things changed, when my father became a diplomat later on.

Iman Abdulmajid

missing father people

My worst year. The only thing that I know for a fact now is that if it's really a bad day, then I draw the curtains, and I lay in bed. There is no way of dealing with grief. And I have no idea. This year I had double of them, my mother and my husband. I just take it one day at a time.

Iman Abdulmajid

husband grief mother

My father taught me how to be a parent and gave me a positive connection with men because he is a gentleman.

Iman Abdulmajid

parent men father

I came from a background where I was very poor growing up but I have never known poverty. My parents worked hard and they went to bed hungry, but they fed us. Then my father became an ambassador, so I ended up being driven by chauffeurs. And then we became refugees. After that, I looked at it through this "glass" of to have and have not, and at the end of the day, who actually helps, who actually steps up, who is there for you.

Iman Abdulmajid

growing-up glasses father

There is strength in numbers.

Iman Abdulmajid

strength-in-numbers numbers

Every generation and every group brings the door into other things.

Iman Abdulmajid

groups generations doors

I don't do anything by myself. I have a whole crew to get me ready every day.

Iman Abdulmajid

crew ready whole