Winnie Harlow was born Chantelle Brown-Young on July 27, 1994, in the Greater Toronto area, the daughter of Lisa Brown and Windsor Young. She is of Jamaican ancestry and has two sisters. She was diagnosed with the chronic skin condition vitiligo, characterized by depigmentation of portions of the skin, at the age of four. Harlow was a victim of bullying by other children and was reportedly called a "cow, zebra, and all manner of other disparaging slurs" throughout her childhood by students both black and white. The verbal harassment led to her changing schools numerous times and dropping out of high school, after which she contemplated committing suicide.
Career
Modelling
Harlow was discovered by America's Next Top Model host Tyra Banks on Instagram, and subsequently became one of the fourteen finalists of the twenty-first cycle in 2014. She was the only Canadian ever cast on ANTM. She was eliminated in the second week of the finals, and participated in a separate competition called the "comeback series", where she continued to participate in the cycle's photo shoots along with the other eliminated contestants in an effort to return to the competition. After completing the comeback series, she was revealed to have received the highest average public vote score, and returned. She was eliminated again in episode 13, placing sixth overall. Following her elimination from America's Next Top Model, Harlow modelled for the Spanish clothing brand Desigual and became their official brand representative. In September 2014, she walked and closed for the clothing brand Ashish for their spring/summer 2015 collection in London Fashion Week. She has modelled for fashion magazines such as i-D and Dazed, and for the fashion website Showstudio.com. In 2015, Harlow modelled for the Italian clothing brand Diesel for its spring/summer 2015 campaign, which was shot by British fashion photographer Nick Knight. She modelled for the Spanish and Italian editions of Glamour magazine and was featured in the August/September 2015 issue of Complex magazine. She was also featured in the August 2015 issue of Cosmopolitan. She was featured on Vogue Italias website in an interview and accompanying photo shoot. In August 2015, Harlow shot the cover of and an accompanying editorial spread in the September issue of Ebony magazine, where she appeared alongside former America's Next Top Model contestant Fatima Siad. In 2016, Harlow was featured in a commercial for Sprite, and was featured in a campaign for Swarovski. The same year, she was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Women In 2018, she modelled at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
In July 2011, Harlow posted a video titled "Vitiligo: A Skin Condition, not a Life Changer" on YouTube. She talked about the condition and answered questions about her life living with vitiligo. In November 2014, Harlow spoke in a TEDx presentation, recalling her experience with it. She was presented with the 'Role Model' award at the 2015 Portuguese GQ Men of The Year event. She once made a controversial statement on another model's appearance and subsequently apologized.
At the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix, Harlow was invited to wave the chequered flag, signifying the end of the race. A miscommunication between race officials led to Harlow being instructed to wave the flag on what should have been the penultimate lap of the race. As a result of the application of the Formula One sporting regulations, the final result was declared based on the positions at the end of lap 68. The error did not seriously impact the race result.
Other work
Harlow has appeared in music videos; these including JMSN's "The One", Eminem's "Guts Over Fear", Calvin Harris' "Promises", and The Black Eyed Peas' "#WHERESTHELOVE". She cameoed in Beyoncé's "visual album" Lemonade and was in one of Lilly Singh 's videos on YouTube named "Three Girls, One Elevator".
