Tina Kunakey

Tina Kunakey was born on April 5, 1997 in the Toulouse region in France to Robin and Nadia Kunakey. While her father is of Togolese origin from Morocco, her mother is from Sicily. Tina spent her childhood in Biarritz, which is in the Basque coast. She has a sister and a brother. The family is very close and spend a lot of time with each other. Tina was interested to pursue a career as a model at a very young age. While surfing on the beach, she was spotted by a surfing company who arranged for a photo shoot with her. This became the first of the many photo shoots. Soon she was shooting for local brands like Roxy, Billabong, and Quicksilver. However, she knew she could achieve more and become more famous if she moved to the city. Thus, she moved to Madrid from Biarritz to focus on her studies and start working as a model on the side. Her parents completely supported and encouraged her decision. She attended several castings in Madrid and found moderate fame. She even signed a contract with Mad Models Management, a talent agency in Barcelona. However, she decided to leave for London and start over again. She had to learn English to be noticed and was eventually cast in a short film by ASAP rapper Rocky. In 2016, she was seen in the music video of 'Danje' by the reggae singer Kalash. Later she appeared in the video of 'Belinda', a song from M. Pokora. The video was released in October 2016 and became a huge hit on YouTube with over 12 million views. These two appearances made her famous across the world, and she graced the covers of several reputed magazines, include Marie-Claire in Italy, Grazia, and Vogue Italia. She also worked with reputed photographers such as Koto Bolofo and Ellen Von Unwerth. She next worked in a shoot with Bella Hadid for Dior's 2017 campaign and appeared in advertisements by L'Oreal. She has also played a minor role in Danny Boyle's TV series 'Trust'. In 2018, Tina became the ambassador for the brand Volcom and was the cover model for Etam, an upscale lingerie company. More recently, she made her runaway debut by walking the ramp at the Jean Paul Gaultier shows in Paris. She recently signed up with the major talent agency IMG model and works with them.