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How Alessandra Ambrosio Went From Small Town Brazil To Become One Of The Wealthiest Models In The Worldhttps://www.businessinsider.in/how-alessandra-ambrosio-went-from-small-town-brazil-to-become-one-of-the-wealthiest-models-in-the-world/april-11-1981-alessandra-corine-ambrosio-was-born-in-erechim-brazil-her-parents-who-are-of-italian-and-polish-brazilian-descent-owned-a-gas-station-/slidelist/27228750.cms2021-07-26T12:48:27+05:30

How Alessandra Ambrosio Went From Small Town Brazil To Become One Of The Wealthiest Models In The World

Jul 26, 2021, 12:48 IST

April 11, 1981: Alessandra Corine Ambrosio was born in Erechim, Brazil. Her parents, who are of Italian and Polish Brazilian descent, owned a gas station.

1992: Alessandra, who was always insecure about her large ears, had cosmetic surgery at age 11 to get her ears pinned back.

1993: At age 12, she enrolled in modeling class and by age 14, she was one of 20 finalists for an Elite modeling competition in Brazil.

Her first notable modeling job was the cover of Brazilian Elle magazine.

Elite passed along some of her Polaroids to Guess, which led her booking the Millennium GUESS? campaign.

1999: Alessandra became the first ambassador for the Victoria's Secret Pink line.

2004: The model launched her line of swimwear called Alessandra Ambrosio by Sais, a division of Rosa Chá. It sold 10,000 units in its first month on the market.

2005: She walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show runway wearing lingerie made entirely out of candy.

2007: Alessandra was the face for the UK company Next and starred in their first television campaign in 12 years. The same year, she was voted one of People magazine's "100 Most Beautiful People in the world."

2008: Alessandra got engaged to businessman, Jamie Mazur, who she has been dating since 2005.

2008: Alessandra became a mother to daughter, Anja, and walked the runway in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show just three months after giving birth.

2009: Alessandra was on the cover of Marie Claire and featured in a spread with Sacha Baron Cohen to promote his 2009 film, "Brüno."

Ambrosio had another brush with Hollywood when she became the face of Brazilian sportswear brand Colcci, costarring with Ashton Kutcher in a steamy denim ad.

2010: Alessandra was ranked ranked No. 5 on Forbes' The World's Top-Earning Models list, with estimated her earnings were $5 million that year alone.

2011: Ambrosio became Vogue's blogger, commenting on her wardrobe by posting one photo of herself each day for a month. The same year, she wore the heaviest Victoria's Secret Fashion Show wings ever (30 lb) to walk the runway.

2012: Alessandra came in 6th on the Forbes top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $6.6 million in one year. She also appeared in the London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony.

2012: On May 7, Alessandra gave birth to son Noah Phoenix Ambrosio Mazur.

2012: On November 7, just six months later, she walked the Victoria's Secret runway in the "Fantasy Bra" — a $2.5 million bra created by London Jewelers.

She has appeared on TV shows such as "Entourage," "How I Met Your Mother," "Project Runway," and "Gossip Girl."

She has been the face of GUESS, Revlon, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani, Rolex, Escada, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.

And is an ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Alessandra has over 871,000 Twitter followers.

And 1.2 million Facebook likes on her Public Figure page.

At this year's Victoria's Secret fashion show, she modeled feathered wings during the "Birds of Paradise" segment.

And blew a kiss goodbye to the crowd.

But before she was a popular Angel, Alessandra was just an energetic tomboy growing up in Brazil:

See what else you missed at this year's show...

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