Victoria's Secret Hires 1st-Ever Transgender Model

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Victoria's Secret has reportedly hired its first transgender model.

In a story from Fox News and other outlets, model Valentina Sampaio, a Brazilian model and actress, posted on Instagram with various hasthtags including "#vspink, #campaign and #diversity, among others.

She is 22-years-old.

The news comes amid the annual Victoria Secret's fashion show being canceled so viewers won't be able to see angels struting around this year. That was confirmed in various media reports by angel Shanina Shaik in July.

A post shared by Valentina Sampaio (@valentts) on Aug 1, 2019 at 8:10am PDT

A post shared by Valentina Sampaio (@valentts) on Aug 2, 2019 at 11:07am PDT

That comes a year after Chief Marketing Officer of the company, Ed Razek, in various media including W Magazine, explained why the company doesn't use transgender or plus size models-- a move he came under fire for.

"Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should," he said in the W Magazine article from November 2018. "Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is. It is the only one of its kind in the world, and any other fashion brand in the world would take it in a minute, including the competitors that are carping at us. And they carp at us because we’re the leader."

He apologized later on.