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Successful Afro-Panamanian model discusses racism in Panama

by Alberto Barrow

Young Nelda Sánchez, reputed to be the most outstanding professional model in our country, recently said that, despite the success achieved in her career after only a year and one-half, she has felt Panama's racism. The top model, who has captivated industry insiders and the public on the local runways and those in Miami and New York, talked about this in a recent interview with a local magazine. Nelda Sánchez, who signed up for the Expomodelos 1999 without any experience, was later signed by the noted agency Physical. The next year she won the Chica Modelo contest and participated in Miami's Fashion Week. She was at Expomodelos 2000, and the Q Models agency hired her. This year, she returned to participate in Fashion Week in Miami, confirming her earlier successes.

But when her career advanced without setbacks, Nelda felt the racism in her country, "They were happy for my triumphs, but deep down they asked, 'why her?'," she said.

Sánchez is hoping for approval by her agency in the United States for a transfer to work for its European market affiliate, in Paris. She has also received offers to work in the growing African market. In New York City she has posed, among others, for the famed linen wear house Victoria's Secret. In the month of June she will be seen on the pages of the English edition of Cosmopolitan magazine, and in Oprah, which is published by the TV director Oprah Winfrey.

Although for the Americans this oustanding model is "brown" (that's how they refer to her), Nelda says "I consider myself a black woman."