Activist and model Adwoa Aboah is one of 10 rising activists, artists and athletes covering TIME Magazine as Next Generation Leaders, just another major achievement for a hard-working young woman with plenty of talent, a strong individualist bent, and a commitment to women and girls worldwide.

Growing up in London, Aboah, whose father is Ghanian, says she thought the fashion industry “had no room” for girls like her. Now she’s redefining what’s in vogue. “I put so many limitations on myself,” Adwoa says. “Now I set absolutely no boundaries.” Reality is that Aboah was right about the fashion industry, but today she is a leader in change so pervasive, that I can't imagine turning back the clock to fashion models being primarily a white girls club. Of course, I never believed America would elect Donald Trump president either, so what do I know!!!

AOC has narrated Aboah's personal history multiple times. What we love the most about her is her activism and fierce feminism. TIME writes:

For Aboah, activism is more than a trend. “Before I even decided that I wanted to model, I decided that I would take on the responsibility of activism” she says. In a speech at the start of London Fashion Week in February, Aboah spoke out against sexual harassment and exploitation in the fashion industry. She called upon fashion insiders to “help change the system that has allowed such rampant abuse of power.” Speaking to TIME, Aboah—who has never been a victim herself—added: “If we can keep constant pressure, all of those monsters will be pushed out”

Adwoa shares a strong sense of the connectedness among women; one so pervasive that she sees parts of them as creating her own identity. Her arms are decorated with delicate tattoos, tiny letters spell ‘Gurl’ on the back of her right palm and ‘Power’ on her left. A line from African-American poet Nayyirah Waheed, ‘All the women. In me. Are tired,’ is drawn across both her wrists. “I’m made up of so many women…my mom—a woman who’s helped me through this journey, the girls I meet through Gurls Talk, and all the wonderful people that come into my life” she says. “I take parts of them and that’s what I’m made up of.”

This bright light of a woman plans to bring Gurls Talk to Ghana, her father's original home and site of her recent Burberry campaign. Gurls Talk is an online organization created to promote mental health awareness for young teens and women, based on the feelings, experiences, and learnings that Adwoa acquired during a painful and almost deadly part of her early life as a model. And like every smart model today, the Brit hopes to break into acting.

We share recent posts about Adwoa Aboah and then a master link to her archives at AOC.

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