Johannesburg - Albinism still invites cruel discrimination in South Africa.
But when you meet Refilwe Modiselle, she defies all the preconceptions you might have of this hereditary condition – for instance, that albinos tend to be shy because they face societal stigma.
There is nothing timid about this 28-year-old. Modiselle is not only a striking model, she converses easily and articulately in her raspy, well-projected Model C school voice. She laughs readily, and is quick with an embrace.
“People say I’m opinionated. But I’m a gifted soul with a lot to offer,” she says.
Modiselle is one of the most sought-after fresh faces on the model circuit and one of the three presenters of etv’s Eksê Let’s Talk show.
Recently, she was the subject of CNN International’s African Voices programme. When it was aired, she confesses she and her mother wept as they watched it.
“They were tears of gratitude over how far I’ve managed to come, despite many obstacles. My mother had a tough time bringing up my sisters and me on her own. My dad died when I was 11. It was not easy for me as a child with albinism,” she says.
Modiselle began her modelling career at the age of 13 when she was approached by Y! magazine, and is the only albino model to have appeared on a South African catwalk – a mantle she achieved walking in a David Tlale fashion show in 2005.
She was the face of fashion brand LEGiT for their Summer 2012 campaign, which thrust her into the fashion world’s collective conscience. Aside from modelling and her eTV talk show, she’s an avid Twitterer (her handle is @vanillablaq), with over 10 000 followers.
Her journey into the public eye may have been entirely unexpected, but Modiselle has embraced her fame as “predestined”.
“I was just a nerdy girl in my teens, and albinism has never been associated with beauty. So when I was approached by Y! magazine, modelling seemed like a crazy idea. My mother was very sceptical. She was afraid I was not strong enough to handle this industry and the pitfalls that come with it,” she says.
Born in Rockville, Soweto, Modiselle is the eldest of three girls. However, she grew up in Orange Grove, a predominantly Jewish-Portuguese neighbourhood and went to Jeppe Girls High.
She attributes the fact that she was in a “progressive metropolitan” area for being protected from the stigma of albinism that exists in South Africa’s black communities.
“In the townships, it’s not easy. People would ask my mom, ‘Did you have an affair with a white man?’ When I was in public, the street kids would say mean things to me,” she recalls.
Albinism presents at birth, resulting in a lack of pigmentation in the hair, skin and eyes, causing vulnerability to sun exposure and bright light.
“Put it this way, from an early age, sunscreen was my best friend,” she laughs. Modiselle also has weak eyesight, so she had a tougher time at school than her peers.
Yet in the modelling industry, Modiselle represented a unique opportunity to question a range of stereotypes and preconceptions. She is a black woman “living in the skin of a white person”, she says, and her rather confounding personal tagline under the LEGiT campaign line “Don’t tell me what to wear” was “I am a woman of colour”.
“I broke new ground, and turned norms upside down. It has caused a lot of confusion and plenty of rejections, because ultimately the client has the last say and many of them don’t see the value in using an albino model. I can’t tell you how many auditions I’ve been to and done well, only to find out the client doesn’t believe their market is ready for an albino model,” she says.
“But I have many more believers, and that’s why I’m here today.”
It is the love and support she gets at home, though, that is vital to her continuing success. “I’ve lived my whole life with being looked at as strange. But I never really cared, because at home I had a strong mother who gave me all the emotional strength I needed.
“I’m also naturally friendly and outspoken so, after a while, people who start off staring get used to me,” she says.
Modiselle typically wears blonde weaves or braids, make-up that enhances her green eyes and chunky necklaces. She has good teeth and an irreverent, pouty smile. Slim, with muscled legs, she looks great.
But there’s more to her than looks. She has a diploma in advertising from Varsity College, where she graduated with five distinctions, after which she started working as a media co-ordinator and brand ambassador for Mindshare SA, then moved to Republic Media.
“I left the corporate world in 2012, the year that I finally understood my capacity and purpose as an individual. I have big aspirations. I am passionate about media, so I want to build my own empire. I want to be the next Oprah. Why not? I want to be on the cover of Vogue, to reach the heights of models like Heidi Klum, Alek Wek and Kate Moss,” says Modiselle, who started on Eksê Let’s Talk with Masechaba Lekalake last year.
They are not unreasonable goals. Modiselle was listed as one of the top 15 most powerful women locally and internationally on Oprah’s Power 2013 List. She’s dabbled in the music industry – she was a backing vocalist for singer Keabetswe “KB” Motsilanyane while she was still at school, and she is also a motivational speaker.
“I like to think of myself as a teacher, sharing my personal experiences so that people, especially those on the fringes of society, can feel it’s okay to be themselves,” she says.
Of course, it’s her albinism that’s helped to catapult her into the global arena, with coverage about her in the Daily Mail in the UK, and now CNN, focusing on the stigma of being black in a white skin and the sometimes violent prejudice it attracts in Africa.
The exposure will, however, help her to “build her empire” and more importantly, to spread the message that you don’t have to conform to popular concepts of what’s acceptable in order to live your dreams.
When the spotlights are off, Modiselle, sensibly, is really just a home girl. She still lives with her mother and while she admits to a desire to be married with children one day, what’s happening right now is more than enough.
“I have a responsibility to put everything I have into the blessings afforded me, and I’m very happy with my life as it is,” she says.
She embraces me, says goodbye and swans out of the restaurant, aware that a number of pairs of eyes are on her. A brave and inspiring woman if ever there was one.
The Star