From homeless to model: a young woman living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro changes her life after being spotted by a photographer

Dinara Santos, 24, has seen her life change from day to day. A young woman lived with three children on the streets of Rio de Janeiro and sold sweets to survive. Today she is a model and works for major Brazilian brands. In a video posted on Instagram, he explains what the journey was like.

To escape violent situations and a poor family, the street was Dinara’s home for 11 years. She was even smaller when she gave birth to her first two children. She considers herself a “survivor” and admits that she went through a lot while homeless.

The young woman’s first contact with fashion happened about three years ago, and since then everything has changed. She admits that she has never had high self-esteem and that she had never thought about becoming a model until a friend suggested the opportunity to her.

The Brazilian remembers a friend’s comment: “Why don’t you become a model? You’re so beautiful. My son is a photographer, he can help.”

“In my opinion, I was an ugly person with children that no one wanted. That’s what men told me,” he explains.

After meeting the photographer, Dinara shot a presentation video and realized that there was an opportunity to change everything that she had to go through with her children. He met fashion professionals and joined an agency where he got a job.

Although things started to look up, the young woman’s ex-partner discovered what was going on and destroyed her home.

Currently, Dinara’s goal in life is to achieve success and be able to provide her children with a better life than she had. The children are four, five and eight years old.

Dinara has already participated in several campaigns for famous brands, but is still trying to establish herself in the market. Several Brazilian media outlets have already shared the young woman’s life story.

Now the model is appealing to her subscribers and Internet users with a request to help her travel with her younger children. A fundraiser was opened for the opportunity to purchase a home for the family.