I didn't feel like I had the right to be who I was - Edward Enninful opens up

Renowned fashion editor, Edward Enninful, has shared a deeply personal journey of overcoming shyness and the struggles he faced growing up as an immigrant child.

In a recent interview with YouTuber The Life of a CEO, the Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, candidly expressed how his early experiences shaped his self-perception and eventually led to a transformative breakthrough.

He revealed that he was painfully shy, to the extent that he found it challenging to enter a room if there were people present.

“I was painfully shy; sometimes I couldn't even walk into a room if there were people, and there was this shyness. I didn't feel worthy, I didn't feel good enough, and I didn't feel like I had the right to be who I was,” he said.

The turning point came when Enninful ventured into the world of modelling. Prior to that, he felt like an invisible figure as the fifth child in an immigrant family.

“I didn't feel like I was wanted until I was trained to be a model, and everything changed. Before then, I was just the immigrant kid, number five, and anyone then knows when you are number five,” he added.

He described how this dynamic pushed him to keep a low profile, avoiding any actions that would draw attention and potentially result in punishment.

“No one has got any time for me as the fifth child, so, I always kept a low profile. I didn't really want to stand out because that would mean I would be punished. I lead my life a lot like that,” he stated.



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