“Shy! You’re gonna be in a shoot, babe! You’re gonna be a model.” Adwoa Aboah is beaming down at the tumble of curly ginger hair and big brown eyes crawling towards her in a tiger-print babygrow, her first child on the set of her very first photoshoot. The room melts at the scene – stylists, assistants, photographer and videographer alike all softened by our cover star’s maternal joy. At 33, and after more than a decade in the spotlight, the model-actor-activist’s smile has been seen on red carpets, in fashion campaigns and on TV. But it’s never shone quite as bright as this.
Perhaps that’s because – for most of us, at least – we’ve never seen her surrounded by so many of the people she loves. Today, on the shoot for her Glamour Women of the Year cover, the goal isn’t only to celebrate Adwoa; it’s also a portrait of the sisterhood that sustains her. There’s the gang who work with her on Gurls Talk, the platform for young women and girls she founded in 2015 and guided to non-profit status in 2023, inspired by her own journey with depression and addiction. There’s her longtime friend and new business partner, Georgie Wright, with whom she’s preparing to launch their new handbag line, The Veil, in October. And there’s her younger sister, Kesewa – “my air, my compass, my navigator,” as she puts it.
Modelling can be a lonely job. But over the years, while becoming one of fashion’s most recognisable faces – from Burberry campaigns to magazine covers – Adwoa has been steadfastly building something far bigger: community and connection. It’s present in her activism and her more recent venture into acting, including roles in Top Boy and in Lena Dunham’s hit Netflix show Too Much. More telling, though, is the way she shows up for and glows around others: listening and laughing at colleagues’ anecdotes mid-shoot, resting her head lovingly on her sister’s shoulder, scooping up her baby girl and bobbing around to niche disco tracks between takes.
Turns out, Adwoa’s magnetism can transmit virtually, too. A month or so after her Glamour shoot, the model finds herself on camera again, this time over Zoom to reunite with her OG modelling bestie and fellow British fashion icon, Cara Delevingne, who has agreed to interview her for her Glamour Women of the Year cover profile. Even while separated by the Atlantic Ocean – Cara in LA, Adwoa at home in London – the pair banter and giggle like kids at the back of the school bus. Having both entered the industry as teenagers and cheered each other on as they’ve bloomed through new chapters, there’s a friendship of deep trust, knowing and intimacy. And, typically British, it’s also full of sarcasm. – Olive Pometsey