Meet the woman currently rocking the modeling world: Tsunaina. Learn and remember her name, because she’s about to be everywhere, trust and believe.
Tsunaina hails from Tibet, but currently lives and works in the UK. She’s incredibly intelligent, ethereally beautiful, and your next Instagram obsession.
Unique doesn’t begin to describe her
Looking at her is like looking at a gorgeous painting–she has perfectly imperfect features paired with classically beautiful traits.
Take her button nose and pair it with a wide nasal bridge, and you have an otherworldly look unique only to her.
The definition of elegance
The constellation of beauty marks on her nose have actually helped some people accept their own.
“The moles on her face makes me a bit happy since I also have lots of them on mine and I thought it makes a person appear gross. Well, not until now.” One commenter said.
Her Instagram is out of this world
Every picture she posts on her Instagram is carefully framed around a chosen color story or narrative. Her inspirations range from nature to fine art, each posted to ensure her page always looks like a series of collages.
One more time
She’s also a storyteller, both through her modeling and through music. Tsunaina told Dazed Digital, “I think I have always been a storyteller, it’s in my nature, it’s in my blood, and it felt most natural to me to tell stories with songs.”
A chance discovery
Like many models before her, Tsunaina was found on a street scout. Unlike many models, however, she’s short–she clocks in at a mere 5’5, well below the standard height.
However, her striking face was too extraordinary to disqualify her from modeling.
New, Now, Next
Tsunaina could be the next big thing in modeling. She’s now posed for Dior, performed at London Fashion Week as a model and musician, and amassed over 255,000 Instagram followers in a little over a year.
Make way for the next generation
The fashion world is changing. Slowly but surely, badly-needed diversity is making its way to runways and photoshoots, where a face like Tsunaina’s is only “unconventional” because of our narrow standards of beauty.
Unconventional is the new normal
Where some would describe up-and-coming models as different, others would simply call them normal. They’re changing the way that we see and interpret beauty, and normalizing features that otherwise would be criticized in the real world.
Instagram famous
Tsunaina is one recent part of the new wave of modeling that celebrates the differences in us. Quite a few models have decided to break the mold and ensure that the things that make them unique help others celebrate that uniqueness within themselves, too.
Winnie Harlow
Winnie Harlow is everywhere right now. Whether she’s walking the stage at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, gracing the cover of Bazaar, or modeling Versace, Winnie can do no wrong.
Sara Guerts
Sara Guerts took her diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and made a career of it. He skin’s lack of elasticity from her disease is a highlighted feature of her modeling career, leading her to work for major publications and amass an impressive following on Instagram.
Ralph Souffrant
Model Ralph Souffrant’s all-over freckles make him an immediate standout from the rest. He’s walked for Yeezy, been featured in Vogue, and worked for Esteé Lauder.
There’s nowhere but up for Ralph.
Maye Musk
What can you imagine yourself doing at 70? For Maye Musk, being 70 means professionally modeling–big time. From Target, to CoverGirl, to Virgin America, Maye has modeled for the best of them. Oh, and she’s Elon Musk’s mother. No big deal.
Rain Dove
A champion and member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Rain Dove is a model whose features take her from “masculine” to “feminine.”
Don’t get it twisted, however–Rain champions gender fluidity, openness, and acceptance for all, down to how we define male and female traits.
Devon Aoki
You can’t miss Devon Aoki. With her red-blonde hair and freckles, she bops around the modeling world with brands like Guess, Away, Nordstrom, and more. Bet you’d never have guessed that she’s 36, huh?
Natalia Castellar
Natalia’s thick eyebows caused her nothing but grief when she was younger, making her the victim of bullying and teasing. Now, she’s an international model–and she has Tumblr to thank for it.
Ines Rau
Odds are, you’ve probably heard of Ines Rau, even if you don’t recognize her name. She was the first transgendered women to model for Playboy, making history and breaking barriers along the way.
Naomi Shimada
“Plus-size” is not a dirty word, and Naomi wants you to know it. This fierce model has been the face of an Amazon campaign, posed for Vogue, and modeled for Desigual. There’s nothing she can’t do.
Adwoa Aboah
Adwoa does more than model — she uses her platform to fight for women everywhere.
As an activist and founder of GURLS TALK, she is paving the way for women to have open conversations about everything.
Lil Miquela
Lil Miquel isn’t real. Literally. She’s a model that exists only in the digital world because she’s a computer-generated model. No one knows who she is — only that she was created by a company called Brud.
Salem Mitchell
Salem Mitchell just emits cool girl energy. Her Instagram is a collection of her adventures paired with chill, low-key captions. She’s posed for magazines, worked for Dior, and rocks Tory Sport by Tory Burch on the regular.
Mama Cāx
Mama Cāx is the next name you need. to. know. When she’s not modeling at Fashion Week or doing sponsorships with Starbucks, she’s championing change for the rights of disabled people everywhere.
RELATED STORIES
We love an activist queen.
Elisha Herbert
Elisha doesn’t do things by half–but perhaps that’s because she’s a twin. One half of the Herbert twins, she and her sister, Renee, have taken the modeling world by storm with their looks, and their humor.
Renee Herbert
The twins aren’t messing around. With a staggering 2.4 million Instagram followers between them, the Herberts are skyrocketing to fame. Between modeling and travelling, it’s any wonder that they have time to also run their YouTube channel.
