Malaika Firth

Malaika Firth is a Kenyan-born British model born on March 23, 1994, in Mombasa, Kenya. She is widely recognized for her international fashion career and for becoming the first Black model in nearly two decades to feature in an advertising campaign for the luxury fashion brand Prada. Her father, Eric, is of British, Seychellois, and Ugandan descent, while her mother, Jecinta, is half-Kenyan and half-Swiss. Her family in Kenya belongs to the Giriama ethnic group.

Firth spent her early childhood in Kenya until the age of seven, at which point her family relocated to Barking, a suburban town in East London. Her father worked as a French polisher at the Four Seasons hotel chain. While growing up in East London, Firth experienced financial constraints and lived in flats with her family, sharing a bedroom with her sister and aunt. During her secondary education, she struggled financially, received assistance from the Education Maintenance Allowance, and experienced bullying from peers due to her shy nature. Her family eventually relocated back to Kenya.

Firth began her modeling journey after being encouraged by her mother, who watched a television documentary episode of The Model Agency featuring Premier Model Management. Her mother contacted the agency to schedule a meeting, and after attending an open-call casting, Firth was signed to Premier Model Management on the spot. She officially started her professional modeling career at seventeen years old.

Her international runway debut took place at New York Fashion Week during the Spring/Summer 2012 season, walking for the designer brand Odilon. Firth subsequently gained significant prominence within the fashion industry after walking in the Spring/Summer 2014 Prada menswear show and starring in the Prada Fall 2013 campaign photographed by Steven Meisel. By securing this campaign alongside models such as Christy Turlington, Catherine McNeil, Cameron Russell, Freja Beha Erichsen, Fei Fei Sun, and Rachel Williams, Firth became the first Black model to star in a Prada advertisement in nineteen years, following Naomi Campbell's Fall 1994 campaign.

Following her notable campaign debut, Firth experienced a major runway breakthrough during the Spring/Summer 2014 fashion week season. She walked in more than forty fashion shows for high-profile designers and brands, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Bottega Veneta, Marc Jacobs, Kenzo, and Dolce & Gabbana. In November 2013, Firth expanded her high-fashion portfolio by making her debut at the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Her success continued into the Spring/Summer 2014 campaign season, during which she secured advertising contracts with major fashion houses including Valentino, Burberry, and a second consecutive campaign for Prada. Outside of modeling, Firth had an interest in acting, having participated in several amateur theatre productions at a local theatre in Barking. Currently based in London, she also maintains family connections to Kenya, where her grandmother operates a restaurant.