--- title: Victoria's Secret Hires Transgender Model Valentina Sampaio description: Lingerie giant Victoria's Secret has hired their first openly transgender model, the Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio. canonical: https://time.com/5644091/valentina-sampaio-victorias-secret-first-transgender-model/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-08-05T14:45:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:59:46.773Z og:title: Victoria's Secret Hires Transgender Model Valentina Sampaio og:description: For the brand, this is the first openly transgender model og:url: https://time.com/5644091/valentina-sampaio-victorias-secret-first-transgender-model/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04604db413ac0c18/698a00e886f68e54f06ed592/valentina-sampaio-first-transgender-victorias-secret-model.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: FASHION-SPAIN-MADRID-MARINERO og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Victoria's Secret Hires Transgender Model Valentina Sampaio twitter:description: For the brand, this is the first openly transgender model twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04604db413ac0c18/698a00e886f68e54f06ed592/valentina-sampaio-first-transgender-victorias-secret-model.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Victoria's Secret Hires Openly Transgender Model Valentina Sampaio > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 5, 2019 2:45 PM UTC  Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio presents a creation from Spanish designer Miguel Marinero's Spring/Summer 2020 collection during the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Madrid on July 10, 2019\. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP) (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio presents a creation from Spanish designer Miguel Marinero's Spring/Summer 2020 collection during the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Madrid on July 10, 2019\. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP) (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) GABRIEL BOUYS—AFP/Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 5, 2019 2:45 PM UTC [Victoria’s Secret](https://time.com/5469577/halsey-victorias-secret-fashion-show-2018/) has hired its first openly transgender model, the Brazilian model, Valentina Sampaio. Sampaio announced the news via her Instagram on Thursday, where she posted a behind-the-scenes picture of herself and tagged a Victoria’s Secret official account in her caption, adding the hashtags #vspink and #campaign. On Monday, Sampaio’s agent, Erio Zanon, confirmed to [_CNN_ ](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/victorias-secret-transgender-model-intl-scli/index.html)that the model was hired by Victoria’s Secret for a campaign for its Pink line, with the campaign debuting in mid-August. On social media, Sampaio received support from a fellow Brazilian Victoria’s Secret model, Lais Ribeiro, who took to Twitter to share her excitement about the hire. > [](https://twitter.com/Lalaribeiro16/status/1157595886492536832) Sampaio’s hire follows [a controversy from 2018 involving transphobic comments from Ed Razek](https://time.com/5454534/victorias-secret-ceo-jan-singer-resigns/), the chief marketing officer of the brand’s parent company, L-Brand. Razek was widely criticized after saying that there was “no interest” for plus-size or transgender models for the annual Victoria’s Secret runway show. 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