She was famously found by Yves Saint Laurent as a young person and can ceaselessly maintain the title of being the primary Black supermodel in Sports activities Illustrated. Right this moment, Roshumba Williams continues to be very a lot in her factor, confidently embracing her 56 years, proudly owning her story and galvanizing different ladies to do the identical.
Picture by Patrick Demarchelier Rising Pains
“When I was going from junior high to high school, my family moved from Chicago to Peoria, Illinois. My brothers were gang age and we were inner-city kids, and my parents wanted to get us out of there. It was starting to get rough for my brothers, but I was doing well. I was on the pom-pom squad, and I had friends. We left that summer, and I was sitting in the backseat, watching the city getting smaller and the cornfields getting bigger. I was devastated. It was like everything was going well, and then it wasn’t. When we got to Peoria, we stayed at my cousin’s house. All the girls ran track, but I was not athletic. I was a size zero and 5’10” at 13, and I didn’t develop till I used to be 35. Go determine! Let’s simply say, I didn’t slot in.”
Clear + Loud
“I remember going to the Kroger grocery store after we got to Peoria, and seeing Elle magazine there. I think Iman was on the cover. In that moment, I saw my calling. I was like, ‘These girls look like me. They’re skinny, and they have dark skin. They have these high features!’ I begged my mom to buy it. I took the magazine home and papered my bedroom wall with the pictures. And then I started begging my mom every day to be allowed to be a model. I didn’t even know what it was, but I knew I wanted to be it.”
Steve Eichner/ Getty Pictures Retailer Entrance
“Besides the Kroger, there weren’t a whole lot of stores in Peoria in the early ‘80s. There was one little boutique, the store where everyone bought their cute church clothes. I went in the store and asked the lady if could I model for her. I bugged her so much. Eventually, my mom went in and said, ‘Please, please, please help her. Please help me because she won’t leave me alone.’ She let me stand in the window on the weekend, as a mannequin. I would dress up in her clothes, do my own makeup and stand in her window as a mannequin. No joke. People would come by and tap the window, and then I would start laughing. I was 14, 15, 16. That’s how it started; I discovered myself.”
The Name
“After graduating high school, my mom said, ‘If you do well in school, you can go be a model,’ because I wanted to leave for New York at 15. But that was a no. I moved back to Chicago with my grandma after high school and made all the calls, went to all the agencies—Elite, all of them. I wasn’t the look. The lucky thing was that I met guys in the area who had a modeling troupe. They liked me and encouraged me to do runway shows. They taught me how to walk, showed me videos of Europe and that’s when that happened. I saved all my money from my call center job. My mom said: ‘You have two weeks. You can go to Europe and you can make it as a model, or you’ve got to come back and go to college.’ I had a time limit.”
Courtesy of Marcellas Reynolds Jet Set
“I had $150 in my pocket when I got off the plane. Honestly, looking at it as an adult, I don’t know how any of it worked. I really don’t. I was such a kid, and I just had this ‘I can’t fail’ attitude. It was almost like I didn’t know danger. I grew up in a pretty secure, insulated environment, and I didn’t know to be afraid, I guess. Also, it wasn’t like it is now where it’s just social media and predators and all that other crazy stuff. I didn’t have enough money to fly directly to Paris. But, I did have enough money to fly to Luxembourg and take a train to Paris, so that’s what I did. When I arrived, the sky was a deep purple and there was a McDonald’s on the Champs-Élysées. When I saw that, I knew I was going to make it. I said to myself: ‘Here we go. You got this, Ro.’ The rest is history.”
Residing Artwork
“When I was coming up in modeling, it was more about art. We didn’t have the pressures of social media; I never had to show anyone how many followers I had. You were a living, breathing work of art. Now, you have that whole other element. One thing that has always been the same, though, is how important it is to be true to yourself, and to be true to your truth. And, don’t put your eggs all in one basket. I found success doing a little bit of modeling, a little bit of TV, a little bit of hosting.
Pierre VAUTHEY/ Getty Images Swim Fan
“I started working with Sports Illustrated in 1989. And for years I thought: ‘You closed the book, you did it, check the box.’ It’s a great box to check. Then, 2023 comes, and I get a call that SI wants me to walk in their Miami swim week. I’m looking at the tush in the mirror and I’m like, ‘Honey, I’m 50-plus at this point. This isn’t no 30-year-old.’ But SI is my home. It’s my sorority. It was still in my blood, so I said yes. I flew to Miami, walked in the show and reconnected with my whole SI family. It just was a dream come true. It was the tease for the 60th anniversary, and they brought back legends—Carol Alt, Vendela and a couple of other girls. We were the finale. Everybody was losing their mind. The supers were back.”
Astrid Stawiarz/ Getty Pictures Cowl Lady
“Fast-forward to March 2024, I get another call. Sports Illustrated wants you to be on the cover for the Legends. I’m like, ‘What? Are you kidding me?’ I was scheduled to shoot the rolling out of the red carpet for the Oscars that day. I didn’t get the message from my representative until the night before, but I just threw clothes in the bag and ran to the airport. I didn’t even have a ticket. I pulled up in the Uber at the JetBlue terminal, ran through LAX and realized I actually had to catch the Delta flight. It was crazy, but I made it. I got there that night and got up that morning. My call time was 5 a.m. I was ready. It was epic.”
Actuality Shift
“In December, we get another call: ‘SI wants you to shoot for the 2025 issue.’ I’m on the floor. I’m like, ‘What? Why!’ I drank every type of reduced-fat drink you can imagine, bleached my teeth, did everything I could. Then, the LA fires happened. Fortunately, I was safe, but your whole reality changes. You have to refocus. It’s hard to think about magazines and swimsuits during something like that. It was hard. I got the smoker’s cough because we were all inhaling the smoke and the whole nine. But I get on the plane, I fly to Jamaica and it was bliss. It was just like, now that was Sports Illustrated’s version of the Blue Origin trip to the edge of space. It was fabulous and I got in the water. My lungs got cleaned out.”
Michael Tullberg/ Getty Pictures Class Act
“All of it is just beyond—this rebirth and acknowledgement of women in their 50s and 60s still being viable, beautiful and celebrated. I’m just so happy to be a part of this class. The fact that my career is still going, and it started in 1987, and I’m still relevant…I could cry. I’m just so grateful.”
