Veronica Webb

In addition to establishing herself as a successful fashion model, Veronica Webb has also worked as a journalist, television correspondent, and actor. Her first book, Veronica Webb Sight, is a collection of essays on personal and social topics.

After graduating from high school, Webb moved to New York City to study animation at the Parsons School of Design. She supported herself with a job at a Soho boutique, where professionals from the fashion industry discovered her and suggested she try modeling. Though doubtful of her chances, she was quickly signed by the Click agency and embarked on a modeling career. In 1984 Webb appeared in a photo shoot for Mademoiselle magazine; later that year, she found success in Europe as a runway model for fashion giants such as Lagerfeld and Chanel. In Paris she met designer Azzedine Alaia, who became her mentor.

Two years later Webb had tired of the stressful Paris fashion scene and returned to New York, where she signed with the Ford agency. Believing her race would prevent her from reaching the pinnacle of modeling success, Webb also began writing articles on fashion for the Manhattan magazine Paper. In time, she expanded her topics to include contemporary issues such as AIDS testing and abortion rights. In 1990 Webb began a regular monthly column for Paper, which led to assignments for Elle and Interview. The following year, she debuted as an actor in Spike Lee's film Jungle Fever. She also later appeared in Lee's Malcolm X.

In 1992 Webb was chosen as Revlon Consumer Products Corporation's ColorStyle spokesperson--a model who would serve as the "face" for a new line of cosmetics for African American women. This multi-million-dollar contract propelled Webb into the highest ranks of the modeling profession, and made her the first African American woman to land an exclusive advertising contract with Revlon.

Webb has continued her work as a journalist, and appears as a correspondent on the television programs Good Morning America and HBO's Entertainment News. In 1998 a collection of her journalism, Veronica Webb Sight, was published. The book contains a memoir of Webb's career trajectory as well as essays on subjects such as race, crime, breast cancer, and politics