I've been doing my job well for 17 years. People must see something in me. Otherwise, I'd be over and out.

Patrick Demarchelier was the one who got me my first Vogue cover. It was French Vogue - I think in ’87 or ’88. I think I was the first black model to be on the cover of French Vogue, which was shocking to me because when I asked them about it, they were like, "Oh, no. We’ve never had that before."

I'm not set on a pedestal where I think I'm too high and mighty.

Anger is a manifestation of a deeper issue... and that, for me, is based on insecurity, self-esteem and loneliness.

I think it's always good to learn a craft from scratch the real way, so that you've learned it from the basis, the raw bones, and then you have that to fall back on. I personally wouldn't want it any other way.

I'm very observant and very instinctive. In life, you have to have the vulnerability to accept when you are to blame. And I do have that and I am open enough to say it.

I started this charity, Fashion for Relief, in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina happened. New Orleans was actually the first place I visited in the United States. It was one of my first big jobs, a shoot for British Elle. It was April 14, 1986.