Born May 4, 1975 in St. Louis, Missouri,
Kimora Lee Simmons is an author, an actress and a model. She also heads Baby Phat, a clothing line for women. Simmons is of African-American, Korean and Japanese descent.
As a child, she was called names like “geek” and “chinky giraffe” due to her stature and her unique Asian ancestry. The teasing got worse when, at the age of ten, she already stood 5-foot and 8-inches tall. She had difficulties in belonging to circle of friends during her schooling years because most of the students from her community were blacks, and they avoided her.
At the age of 11, her mother encouraged her to attend modeling class in an attempt to boost Simmons' confidence. Simmons did enroll and after two years, she was immediately signed into an exclusive modeling contract with Chanel. By the age of 14, she went to Paris and worked for renowned designer Karl Lagerfeld. That was the start of her rise to stardom and soon enough, she became one of the world's top fashion models.
Simmons appeared on the music videos of the songs “In Those Jeans” by Ginuwine and “Nice & Slow” by Usher. On TV, she made appearances as host for One World Music Beat, judge for
America's Next Top Model and co-host for Life & Style. In 2006, she published a book titled Fabulosity: What It is and How to Get It and in 2007, a Kimora Lee Simmons Barbie doll was manufactured.
She organized the Kimora Lee Simmons Scholarship Fund at the Lutheran High School North in her hometown. Simmons is also involved in youth advocacy organizations like Amfar, The G&P Foundation and Keep a Child Alive. She was voted Board of Directors in Rush Philantrophic.
Kimora Lee Simmons stars on her own reality show
Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane . The show documents her daily life including her family, her co-workers and her designing career. It premiered on Style Network and currently re-airs on E! Entertainment Television.
(Photo courtesy of E!)