Andreja Pejic has joined Ford Models, becoming the 71-year-old agency’s first openly transgender model. Pejic came out in 2013, and a slew of historic firsts followed: she was the first trans model to land a major beauty campaign (as the face of Make Up For Ever), the first trans model profiled by Vogue, and the first to cover GQ.
When Pejic announced her move to Ford on Instagram, her caption read “I’m grateful that I can say I’m surrounded by a team that truly values what I bring to the table. I guess it’s the number one rule of business in this business, but it’s not always the easiest one to achieve. Excited for the future!” Pejic’s agent is now Christopher Michael, Ford’s chief creative officer.
The model was born in Bosnia, but soon moved to Serbia with her mother to escape political unrest. In a 2015 conversation with Paris Lees for i-D, Pejic recalled, “I was living in a refugee camp before we moved to Australia. The last time I went back [to Australia] properly was 2010.” In fact, it was behind the counter of an Aussie McDonald’s that Pejic was first scouted, by Chadwick’s Joseph Tenni.