Leandra Medeiros Cerezo, known professionally as Lea T (born 19 February 1981), is a

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian-born, Italian-raised

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

fashion model. She has been called the "

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...

" of Riccardo Tisci, chief creative officer of British luxury brand Burberry; her professional last name of "T" stands for Tisci. She is the face of American hair-care brand

Redken Redken is an American hair care brand owned by L'Oréal Group under the Professional Products division. History The company was founded in 1960 by Jheri Redding and Paula Kent, thus the name, "Red-ken." Redken pioneered the "Scientific Approa ...

. She is also a pop culture icon of

advocacy in the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

community. She has stated that discrimination against LGBT people is an ongoing issue, and that society has more to do before it is resolved.

Early life

Assigned male at birth, T is the daughter of well-known former Brazilian football player

Toninho Cerezo Antônio Carlos Cerezo (born 21 April 1955), known as Toninho Cerezo (), is a Brazilian former footballer. Cerezo is commonly regarded as one of the finest Brazilian defensive midfielders of all time, most notably having played for his homet ...

and was raised in Italy.

Career

Lea T was first discovered by model agent Piero Piazzi, who signed her aged 17, before her transition. Givenchy senior designer Riccardo Tisci then discovered her, asking her to assist him, before making her the face of Givenchy in late 2010. Her first runway show was for Alexandre Herchcovitch during

São Paulo Fashion Week The São Paulo Fashion Week is an clothing trade show held semi-annually in São Paulo. It is notable as "Latin America's pre-eminent fashion event" and it is of the emerging fashion weeks, outside the ''Big Four'' of New York, London, Paris and ...

in January 2011. T has featured in campaigns for Givenchy, Benetton and

Philipp Plein Philipp is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: "Philipp" has also been a shortened version of Philippson, a German surname especially prevalent amongst German Jews and Dutch Jews. Surname * Adolf Philipp (1864 ...

, shot by Terry Richardson. She has been featured in editorials in '' Vogue Paris'', '' Numero'', ''

Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

'' and ''

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

''. In 2011, she was also the cover star of two editions of the Spring/Summer 2011 edition of ''Love'', one as a solo model and another featuring her kissing Kate Moss. T has also graced the covers of international editions of '' Elle'', '' Marie Claire'', '' Grazia'' and '' Glamour''. In 2013, she participated in the Italian version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'' on Rai Uno entitled '' Ballando con le Stelle''. In February 2015, Lea T was chosen by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' magazine one of the 12 women who changed Italian fashion, alongside names like Miuccia Prada, Anna Dello Russo and

Franca Sozzani Franca Sozzani (; 20 January 1950 – 22 December 2016) was an Italian journalist and the editor-in-chief of ''Vogue Italia'' from 1988 until her death in 2016. Biography Sozzani was born and grew up in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy. She stu ...

. In 2014 she became the face of American hair-care brand

, thus making her the first openly transgender model to front a global cosmetics brand. Lea T became the first openly transgender person ever to participate in the opening ceremonies of an Olympics when she led the Brazilian team into the stadium on her bike during the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, leading out a 465-strong team contesting 29 sports, modern pentathlete Yane Marques carrying the Auriverde flag into the stadium.

Personal life

In a January 2011 interview, T stated her intention to undergo sex reassignment surgery. The surgery occurred in March 2012, in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. In an interview to Fantástico, in January 2013, she described the surgery in a negative way but two weeks later she said that she "

elt ELT may refer to: Education * English language teaching * Expanded learning time, an American education strategy * Kolb's experiential learning theory Mathematics and science * Ending lamination theorem * Extremely large telescope, a type of ...

satisfied with the results". T has stated that she considers herself to be bisexual. LiaTBrahma

Award

She was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lea T Living people 1981 births Brazilian LGBT entertainers Brazilian emigrants to Italy Brazilian female models People from Belo Horizonte Transgender female models Bisexual women BBC 100 Women