Palestinian Model Sharon Rose Benson Is Making Waves in Her Fashion Community

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Model Sharon Rose Benson (@rose_xxvi) of Haifa never intended on entering the fashion world. Born to a Palestinian mother and a father of Irish-Swedish descent, she was encouraged to find a stable, secure career. “That is why there is a joke about Arabs being doctors. They don’t just choose those roles,” says the 24-year-old, explaining that their careers are rooted in finding stability in a precarious living situation. “There is trauma behind that stereotype.”

From a young age, Benson felt more creative and expressive. “I’ve always gravitated toward different things and characters and dressing up,” she says. “But I didn’t know I could make money [modeling].” Eventually, Benson found her way in the local modeling industry, first through an agency and then pursuing opportunities privately via her social-media channels. For Benson, modeling is an act of representation. She recalls while growing up that she never saw anyone who looked like her—not even in the advertisements of her local Arab shops. “It seemed so far away. If you look at the traditional marketing that Arabs do here, they always bring a Russian girl, and that’s okay,” she says. “But when you don’t have that representation even where you shop and it is an Arab brand and they aren’t using an Arab face, you don’t see yourself in that working space.”