Model Jany Tomba

Jany Tomba was one of the first black female stars in the modeling profession as a result of the breakthrough of black identity into the American mainstream in the late 1960s.

The daughter of Haitian painter Geo Remponeau, Ms. Tomba grew up in Port-au-Prince and moved to New York in 1965.  She was soon discovered and did a modeling assignment at Glamour magazine.  When she signed on to the Ford agency, Ms. Tomba saw her star rise meteorically. 

She appeared on the covers of magazines such as American Girl, Woman's Day, Mademoiselle and - big surprise - Essence.  She also appeared in ads for beauty products aimed at black women, such as hair straighteners . . . though Jany Tomba has always looked great no matter how she styles her own hair. 😊  

And, as the above photo shows, glamour is something she could do very, very well. 😍

  

Jany Tomba ended her modeling career after thirty years to pursue graduate studies in Haitian Linguistics at the City University of New York.  (Yes, Haitians speak French, but they also developed a language of their own - Creole, based on French and African vocabularies.)   She also added painting and sculpture to her many endeavors, proving that she is a woman of many talents . . . and her father's daughter. 😊

Fun fact: Jany Tomba is the girl who appears holding a teddy bear on the cover of the paperback edition of Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye."