Thando Hopa 10 Facts About The First Woman With Albinism On The Cover Of Vogue

It is not uncommon for people living with disability to feel out of place, especially because of stereotype. Even though there have been stigma and atrocities distressing people living with albinism, there’s a better acceptance from society and the willingness to push hard by albino people have made a number of them become much-publicized. For Thando Hopa who is a South African model, actress, writer, activist, and lawyer; she has made it to the top as the first woman with albinism to grace the cover of Vogue Portugal in 2019.

Thando Hopa is known for creating histories without minding her condition of albinism. It is therefore for these and other reasons that in 2018 she was cast as the Princess in the Pirelli Calendar, making her the foremost South African person of colour to appear in it. Still, she continues to be one of South Africa’s women to fight for the rights of people and those who are different.

Profile Of Thando Hopa

Name: Thando Hopa
Date and place of birth: 1989 in Sebokeng
Education: University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Career: model, lawyer, and activist.
Height: 5 feet 8.5 inches tall
Ethnicity: She has roots in Xhosa and Sotho

Thando Hopa Biography

Thando Hopa was born in 1989 in Sebokeng and was raised in Lenasia South.

She attended a public school as a child and as an albino person, she began to notice how different she was. This led to receiving judgements from people which in turn contributed to her not accepting herself as much as she would have loved.

Adding to her educational qualification, she went to study law at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Her Family

Thando has an engineer father and a filmmaker mother. Also, she has 2 older siblings. Other sites have claimed that she has 3 siblings with one suffering from the same condition as her – albinism!

She recounted how she was treated with love and support by her parents, grandmother, and siblings even when other people would treat her unfairly because of her condition.

Her Career And Net Worth

As a lawyer and advocate, Hopa has been involved in several advocacies as well as worked towards the inclusion of everyone in the society without minding race, gender, or even physical appearance.

Her career in modelling began when she got noticed by designer Gert-Johan Coetzee at a shopping mall in 2012 while she was working as a prosecutor. Since then, she has been featured in several modelling gigs and made the history of becoming the first woman with albinism to be featured on the cover of Vogue.

Having grown in her career, Thando has still remained one of the few people living with albinism to maintain a high profile. In addition, she became one among notable black people to be featured in the Pirelli Calendar. Other notable acts include Lupita Nyong’o, Whoopi Goldberg, Naomi Campbell, and Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs.

Gaining the opportunity to speak at the Bezatone Economic Forum of 2020, Thando spoke about ‘The Beauty of Inclusion’ where she shared her experiences as a person living with albinism. She was mentored by Angelique Kidjo – a singer, songwriter, actress, and activist.

Opening up her experiences, she became a judge at the 2019 Miss South Africa Peageantry alongside radio host Anele Mdoda, actress Connie Ferguson, former beauty queens Demi Nel-Peters and Catriona Gray.

Through all these means and several endorsements, Thando Hopa has earned a good income. However, it is still uncertain how much she has as her net worth.

10 Facts About Thando Hopa

She started to feel different from other people in her first grade at school.
She gained the most stylish award in 2013.
Thando Hopa became the face of Audi’s SUV car in 2017.
She advocates for people to accept and love themselves.
She works towards albinism rights.
Thando Hopa became the only South African woman on BBC’s list of 100 women for 2018.
She had a hard time accepting herself until when she wore no make-up and did a bare shoot.
She is a brand ambassador for Vichy’s sunscreen range for their skincare brand.
Having featured in the 2018 Pirelli Calendar with notable black people in different spheres of works and from different parts of the world, she was the only task member to be given the opportunity to write on the calendar with the only other person being the editor of the French Vogue.
Her relationship status is not known since she keeps a private life.