Liya Kebede was born and grew up in Addis Ababa on January 3, 1978 in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian supermodel was discovered by a film director while she was attending Lycee Guebre Mariam. After completing her studies she moved to France to further her modeling career through Parisian agency. Liya proved herself in the fashion industry by modeling on the Paris, New York and Milan runway circuit. Her career kicked into high gear when Tom Ford offered her an exclusive contract for his Gucci Fall/Winter 2000 Fashion show. After signing such big modeling assignment she appeared on the covers of American, Italian, French, Japenese, and Spanish Vogue, i-D, Flair, V and Time’s Style & Design and has been the face of various ad campaigns including those for Gap, Yves Saint-Laurent, Victoria’s Secret, Tommy Hilfiger, Escada, Dolce & Gabbana , Revlon, Emanuel Ungaro, and Louis Vuitton. In 2003, Liya signed a contract with Estee Lauder cosmetics as their newest face with a contract rumored to be for $3million. In the Company’s 57-year history, Liya was the first ethnic African model to serve as their representative. She is one of the very few black models who have featured on the cover of US Vogue twice, in major fashion photo shoots and runway shows. Highlighting her humanitarian work in American Vogue, the issue of summer 2006 also featured her on the cover page. Apart from her modeling career, her versatility can be gauged from the fact that in 2005 she was appointed as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. Liya has also made her appearance in two films - The Good Shepherd, and Lord of War. Conor Kennedy, a booker at Elite Model Management in 2003 said, “It’s like there’s only room for one very successful black model at a time. For the past year it’s been Liya.” As of 2007 Kebede family resides in New York. She married Ethiopian hedge fund manager Kassy Kebede in 2000 and gave birth to a son Suhul in 2001 and daughter Raee in August 2005. In July 2007, Forbes ranked Liya as the eleventh highest earning model, estimated to be $2.5 million in the past 12 months.