Waris Dirie is a nomadic child from Somalia. She is a human rights activist, a supermodel, and a best-selling author who has received numerous prestigious awards for her work and her commitment in the fight against female genital mutilation.
She has fronted campaigns for Chanel and Revlon and even starred in a James Bond movie.
But Waris Dirie really caught the world's attention in 1997 when she opened up about her horrific female genital mutilation (FGM) ordeal.
She has since campaigned tirelessly against the practice.
Waris, now 48 and living in Poland with her four children, was just five years old when she was subjected to FGM in her home country of Somalia.
She was then forced into marrying a 60-year-old man when she was just thirteen, a threat which left her no choice but to flee to Mogadishu, where she had family.
She later moved to London to live with relatives and worked in a local McDonald's before getting her big break when she was scouted by a fashion photographer in the 1990s.
