Life lessons from a fashion matriarch with model, agent and diversity champion Bethann Hardison

VS Voices

She’s known as ‘The Oracle’ and you’ll soon hear why. Bethann Hardison’s trailblazing career spans several decades. She started out in the garment industry, had a wildly successful modeling career , became a power agent, and a forever champion of diversity to this day. When you think of American fashion history, it starts here with Bethann. At the age of 79, she’s showing no signs of slowing down. Whether dancing to BTS or jetting off to the opera,, she continues to live a full, rich lifestyle. “As life goes on, I'm truly taken with me, myself. I look at things and go ‘Wow!’” she says, giving us all an example for aging joyfully. In this conversation, she shares her early days as a correctional officer in a state prison, her friendship with the late artist Nick Kamen, and her brilliance at breaking the mold. “I had to bring more people of color onto the arena, and having a white model agency, I'd have more power to do it”.

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