By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinator 
JAMAICAN MODEL Nadine Willis is to spearhead the new campaign for Gucci, one of the world's most prestigious fashion brands. She is the first black woman to be selected to lead such a campaign.
Gucci launched its print campaign last Friday and photographs of Miss Willis were shot by one of the world's leading fashion photographers, Mario Testino. The photographs will appear in this month's editions of both British and American Vogue.
Models in major campaigns advertising leading brands fetch upwards of US$1 million, Peter York, who writes for British GQ told Wednesday Business. Super models such as Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer have amassed fortunes of about US$40 million during their careers. Models such as Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks, though not quite in that league, earn millions of US dollars.
The story of Nadine Willis is well-documented a single mother struggling to make ends meet just six months ago, becomes one of the world's leading models today. She has adorned some of the world's leading publications including i-D, Spanish, French, Italian and Japanese Vogue, Ten, The Face and El Numero. British Vogue has placed her as one of the top five new stars in the world.
Two weeks ago, Models.com placed her as the 46th ranked model in the world. This week she sits at number 26.
Miss Willis is managed by Pulse chairman, Kingsley Cooper. Mr. Cooper said: "Probably no model before her has had such a meteoric start to her career. If Nadine's career continues to develop along its current trajectory, she certainly has a good chance of making it to the top. She will appear in more than 15 major magazines hitting newstands in July and August."
That, combined with Gucci and the fashion collections, which she will do around the world in September and October, positions her for the coveted perfume and cosmetic campaigns this fall.
"The key will be to capitalise on all of this with two or three major campaigns right after the fashion collections in September and October. That is the current strategy for near term success," Mr. Cooper said.
