By Isake Tom

Recently featured in the short documentary The Colour of Beauty, Toronto’s Renee Thompson is one of the city’s top models. Originally born in Jamaica, this fierce femme immigrated to Toronto with her family-the place where her modeling career would eventually take off. A veteran in the industry, Renee has modelled for over ten years producing notable spreads such as the 2007 Harper’s Bazaar fashion editorial.

Toronto based NAM Models is just one of the agencies she is currently signed to. She is also the first black model to sign with PT Models in Taipei, Taiwan. You may have spotted her gracing the pages of Sway magazine or walking the runway for DSquared, Chloe, Benetton and various fashion weeks around world.

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The Colour of Beauty

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Produced by Elizabeth St. Philip, The Colour of Beauty documented Renee’s daily life as an aging model of colour, striving to make it big in New York City with that one job that would propel her career to supermodel status. Viewers bore witness to the rampant racism that exists in an industry where the ideal black beauty is a “white girl dipped in chocolate” and it’s not uncommon to have “no black girls allowed” as the criteria for many casting break downs. However the short film also showcased Renee’s determination and resilience; two things we know will catapult our hometown gal all the way to supermodel status.

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