Gemma Cowling

Gemma Cowling
Born	Adelaide, South Australia

Gemma Cowling is an Australian model. She is the first Australian-born transgender model to be signed with an agency. ^{[1] [2]}

Biography

Cowling was born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. She came out as a transgender woman and began transitioning after completing school, stating that she didn't feel like school was a safe and inclusive place for her to do so. ^[3]

She made her runway modeling debut in 2016 at the Adelaide Fashion Festival. ^[4] Later that year, at the age of nineteen, Cowling became the first Australian-born transgender model to sign with an agency. ^[5] She was first signed with Azalea Models. She later signed with Milk Models ^[6] and Chadwick Models. ^[7] In 2017 Cowling became the face of TONI & GUY's new campaign You Define You. ^[8]

Cowling has spoken out about people in the fashion industry exploiting her and other transgender models because of their gender identity in order to make a brand seem progressive. ^{[9] [10]}

References

1. Australia's first transgender model Gemma Cowling tells of her role, The Advertiser (Adelaide)
2. Transgender model Gemma Cowling not entirely comfortable being a role model for future hopefuls, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)
3. "Adelaidenow.com.au - Subscribe to The Advertiser for exclusive stories". myaccount.news.com.au.
4. Mandybur, Jerico. "Australian trans model Gemma Cowling is a secret social media genius". Mashable .
5. O'Malley, Katie (9 August 2016). "Meet The Hilarious Australian Transgender Model Ruling Social Media". ELLE.
6. "Gemma Cowling - MiLK Model Management". www.milkmanagement.co.uk.
7. "Gemma's agenda to be a runway success". www.adelaidenow.com.au. 13 July 2017.
8. Cook, Erin. "Australian Transgender Model Gemma Cowling New Campaign". ELLE.
9. "Gemma Cowling: 'I'm trying to step away from being the token trans model'". Stuff. 21 October 2017.
10. Shipton, Jamie-Maree (2 August 2016). "transgender model gemma cowling on finding a home in fashion".