Why Adwoa Aboah is such a positive role model
Model Adwoa Aboah has written an open letter talking about her “shame” growing up mixed race.
Aboah – who was born in London to an English mother and Ghanaian father – has written in Elle: “I, like many others before and after me, never felt as though I fit in. I wasn’t white enough, nor was I black enough.”
She adds: “I wanted so much to conform, to be like everyone else – something that today would be a massive detriment to my career but, at the time, was my deepest fantasy.” In the letter, the 28-year-old also praises the “strength and resilience” of the younger generation during the coronavirus pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement.
Her openness
Openness is something we’ve come to expect from Aboah. In 2015 she founded Gurls Talk, an online platform aiming to empower young women and give them a space in which to discuss issues they face, from mental health to sexuality and body image.
Aboah started Gurls Talk after opening up about her own struggles with substance abuse and depression. In 2017 she told PA: “I always knew that sharing my story was going to be the biggest part of Gurls Talk. If I shared and was open, from being someone who didn’t share at all and didn’t talk or share any sort of emotion with anyone, it was going to be such an important part. And if I was brave enough to do it then I hope that other girls will be brave enough to share back.”
Creating a positive space
Through the Gurls Talk community, Aboah has run one-day festivals of talks and workshops, set up a podcast interviewing high profile individuals like tennis player Serena Williams and activist Munroe Bergdorf, and built an online community where people can share poetry, art and thoughts.
Breaking down stigma
And she’s committed to breaking the stigma around mental health, in particular by being open about her own, and encouraging others to do the same, and seek support: “You wouldn’t kind of feel ashamed if you had to go and get your broken legs sorted out.”
Her activism in the fashion world
Aboah has also been a figurehead for change through her modelling career. British Vogue editor Edward Enninful chose her as the cover star for his first edition on the job in 2017, and in an accompanying interview she said: “There is this newfound love and space for activism within fashion. I never would have dreamt in a million years that I would have young girls coming up to me at Glastonbury or on the streets of LA, New York, London, and telling me how much Gurls Talk or seeing my picture in a magazine means to them, as a woman of colour.”
Celebrating her roots
She proudly celebrates her Ghanaian roots too. In 2018 she shot a Burberry campaign in Accra, Ghana’s capital, alongside members of her family. Aboah said at the time: “I want the world to know that there are two families, both that mean the world to me, two sides to my story. I want the world to see the beauty and Ghana to have that moment in the light, one that it has always deserved.
“I have been claimed by Ghana, told to go and show the world, make them proud. I belong.”
Image: Ian West/PA
