Alpha Dia, a Senegalese fashion model nominated for Model.com’s Model of the Year: Men Award in 2019, embodies a new brand of influence as he utilises his popularity to better the lives of people back home.
Dia was born in 1992 in Dakar, Senegal. He was scouted in a bar in Hamburg, German by photographer Christian Bendel and signed soon after with Modelwerk agency in Germany. It was from this agency that Dia’s representation grew all around the world and debuted on the runway walking for Prada in Milan during the men’s fashion week.
Since then, he’s been the face of BOSS, Salvatore Ferragamo, Givenchy, H&M and credits his success to “a strong character and a great team.” Dia currently has 30k followers on his Instagram and was identified by Models.com as a Break Out New Face in 2017 was nominated for Model.com’s Model of the Year: Men Award in 2019. In 2020 alone, Dia posed for several campaigns from Missoni F/W 2020 and Boss S/S 21 Show to editorials with Numéro Berlin and V Man. Dia has also graced the pages of GQ Germany, Another Man, and Essential Homme.
Despite his success on the runway and in editorials, the most notable part of Dia is his sense of social responsibility. Dia expressed to MMSCENE that it is his role to “leave our best footprints so the models coming next will fill them easily” which is why he’s using his fame to encourage other black people to be proud of their colour.
Story By Tasnova Sattar
Edited By Isabelle Virrey
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