May 4 - BlackFacts.com Black History Minute

BlackFacts.com: Learn/Teach/Create Black History

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for May 4.

Kimora Lee Simmons was born.

She is an American entrepreneur, fashion designer, TV personality, author, philanthropist and model.

Kimora was born of African American and Japanese heritage. She attended public school, but when she grew to 5-foot, 8-inches by the time she was ten years old, she became the easy target of schoolyard taunts and teasing.

Hoping to boost her confidence, Simmons's mother enrolled her daughter in a modeling class when she was eleven years old. Two years later, at the age of thirteen, Simmons was awarded an exclusive modeling contract with Chanel.

In 1998, Simmons' then husband, music mogul and entrepreneur, Russell Simmons, was at the helm of "Phat Farm", an urban menswear brand. Simmons created a parallel women’s brand, "Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons", under the umbrella of "Phat Fashions".

She has also been featured in rap music videos and had her own reality show called “Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane”.

She established the Kimora Lee Simmons Scholarship Fund at her high school alma mater in St. Louis to provide college tuition support for academically successful girls with financial needs.

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