The pervasive rise of model Adut Akech gets another boost, covering the May 2019 issue of Allure US. Daniel Jackson captures Adut, with styling in Prada, Versace, Balenciaga and more by Alex White. / Hair by Ward; makeup by Hannah Murray

Baze Mpinja conducts the interview. ‘Adut’s World’.

Adut has humbled everyone who knows her and reads her story, as one of the large numbers of South Sudanese refugee models dominating fashion in this moment. She spent her early years in Kakuma, Kenya before moving to Australia with her mother and siblings.

While Adut’s clear voice has spoken often about always being a refugee, it’s her grace that’s humbling to those of us who haven’t faced such incredible adversity and then risen so high in spite of it. The young wonder woman speaks about the hunger, the fear, and the constant moving to escape the threat of violence, before turning to her strong sense of ‘gratitude’ for the most basic gifts of shelter and food.

“When you live in that type of condition, you just try to make the most of life because you know that tomorrow is not promised,” she says. “I always felt like I had to be grateful for whatever little food I ate that day or that I had somewhere to sleep because I knew that there were kids who didn’t.”

There’s also a blockbuster revelation that Adut shares about her ‘fabulous’ rise, saying that she spent most days in 2018 crying before and after work. “It was so draining mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I don’t know how I’m still here today,” she wrote in an Instagram post on New Year’s Day. This news jolts us, and we will consider Adut’s revelation with support before commenting further. i-D covered the story, and truthfully— we missed it.

Read on about Adut Akech’s story at Allure.