You beauty! My feature on the challenges, history and ultimately game-changing rise of multicultural models in Australia is out in the April issue of The (Sydney) Magazine. The brilliantly enigmatic Jessica Gomes, Samantha Harris and Shanina Shaik talk catwalks, stereotyping and bullying…

WHEN they were at school, Jessica Gomes and Shanina Shaik were bullied. They stood out – their hair was dark, their skin was olive and their cheekbones weren’t like other girls’. “When I was younger, I wished I had blonde hair and blue eyes, just to fit in,” remembers Gomes, her poise at odds with the memory of her school days. “It was emotional,” adds Shaik, “to be growing up and trying to understand yourself and being picked on.”