Valentina Sampaio is a Brazilian model and actress. In 2020, Sampaio became the first openly transgender model to grace Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue. She became Victoria's Secret's first openly transgender model in August 2019. She is also a brand ambassador for L'Oreal Paris.

Sampaio was born in a fishing village in northeastern Brazil to a fisherman and a schoolteacher. At eight years of age, her psychologist identified her as transgender, but she did not start calling herself Valentina until she was 12.

A 2017 New York Times profile of Sampaio mentioned that her parents "were always supportive and are very proud" of her, and her classmates were also very accepting because she said that "they already saw me as a little girl."

Sampaio is an advocate for transgender awareness and equality and she has fought against Brazil's discrimination of transgender people.

Brazil, Brazilian, Diversity, Models, Modeling, Fashion Model, Swimsuit models, LGBTQ, Transgender, LGBTQ Voices Culture, Lifestyle,