Christy Turlington Burns

Christy Turlington Burns is an American model, charity-founder and campaigner, and filmmaker. She represented Calvin Klein's Eternity campaign in 1989 and again in 2014, and also represents Maybelline. Turlington was one of Glamour's Women of the Year in 2013; was named on the annual TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2014; and in 2024, included on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list. Burns initially attracted fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a supermodel.

An ex-smoker whose father died of lung cancer, Burns is an anti-smoking activist. She began smoking at 13 and quit at age 26, but at age 31, when undergoing a lung scan to raise awareness about current technology, she was diagnosed with early-stage emphysema.

While juggling her modeling career, Burns pursued higher education, graduating cum laude from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study of New York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Comparative Religion and Eastern Philosophy. She later pursued a master's degree in Public Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Alongside her academic pursuits, Burns has been involved in various humanitarian activities. In 2010, Burns founded Every Mother Counts, a non-profit organization devoted to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother. Since its founding, Every Mother Counts has invested over $42 million to support awareness raising, community-led solutions, and advocacy for systems change. It was founded after the completion of Burns' documentary, "No Woman, No Cry," a film about pregnant women and their caregivers in Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala, and the United States. In 2013, she directed the documentary film "Every Mile, Every Mother," which explores Every Mother Counts' participation in long distance running to highlight distance from healthcare providers as barriers to women receiving quality care.

Burns has marked her presence in the world of business and media. She launched an ayurvedic skincare line called Sundari and collaborated with Puma on clothing lines. She has contributed writings to magazines like Marie Claire, Yoga Journal, and Teen Vogue, and to the Huffington Post. She is also featured in the Apple TV+ docuseries titled "The Super Models."