Modeling agencies are breaking the mold and redefining the standards of beauty, and IMG continues to support the change in the industry with its latest addition of 22-year-old transgender woman Hari Nef, who was recently signed on to the agency's international roster.
Nef, a Massachussetts native, has been added to a roster that's overflowing with celebs - Karlie Kloss, Gigi Hadid and Victoria's Secret model Gisele Bundchen, to name a few.
The model/actress/writer and recent Columbia University graduate walked her first womenswear show last year, and this spring, she opened New York fashion week on the VFiles catwalk wearing a "girl power" hoodie and walked for Hood By Air, The Guardian reported.
Nef is IMG's second transgender signee - the first being Valentijn De Hingh, but Nef is the only model who is signed globally.
"I can't verbalize how thrilled I am to be joining the @imgmodels family," Nef wrote on her Instagram to share with her 13,000 followers.
The agency's managing director, Ivan, also took the news to social media and wrote: "Today begins our journey with @harinef. This girl's future is so bright; the guys got knocked out behind her!"
"I've been told so many times that my look and my attitude were 'too edgy' to appeal to big fashion clients," Nef said back in April, according to The Independent.
Guess she can silence her critics now.
"I transitioned after I moved to New York and I kind of transitioned in front of everyone. People always knew that I was transitioning. I don't mind talking about it; I'm very comfortable sharing information about myself, and I don't hold that as something precious," Nef told Paper Magazine, the same publication that dubbed her as one of 2015's Most Beautiful People.
