october-2011

When Sara Nuru won
Heidi Klum’s TV
show Germany’s
Next Top Model two years ago,
she jumped off the school bench
and onto the catwalk overnight.
She made TV history in
Germany, becoming the fi rst
black girl to win the popular
series. Campaigns for C&A,
Sony Ericsson and Gillette soon
followed, but while most GNTM
winners quickly disappear from
the public eye, Nuru has
maintained a high profi le,
capturing hearts all over
Germany. Last year, she even
made it onto the big screen with
a supporting role in Otto
Waalkes’ comedy Otto’s Eleven.
We caught up with the
21-year-old in her native Munich
– and discovered the jet-setting
life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“I’ve been to New York Fashion
week, of course, and Milan but
my fanbase is in Germany,” she
says, “which is great because I
prefer being at home. I’d rather
be with my family than sitting
alone in a hotel room,
desperately checking my mobile
for emails or Facebook messages
every two seconds.”
One reason Sara is in demand
in Germany is because she
stands for a new generation of
Germans who may not be
ethnically Teutonic but are
confi dently German in identity.
Much like Mesut Özil and many
others on the German national
football team, they are the voice
88—GW
S A R A N U R U
BAVARIAN BEAUTY
Modelling contracts, TV appearances, even a cinema debut. Sara Nuru
has achieved what few models do: a successful career beyond the
catwalk. But it’s her charity work that makes her truly unique
of a generation saying:
“Wherever our parents are from,
we are German.”
Sara’s parents are Ethiopian,
but she was born in the small
Bavarian town of Erding. She
moved to Munich with her
parents and three sisters when
she was nine, and still lives there
today. “I’m very attached to my
roots. To me, home is wherever
you collect your childhood
memories. Munich will always
be my stomping ground.”
Sara currently lives in the
centre of the city with her longterm
boyfriend, who encouraged
her to enter the initial casting for
GNTM back in 2009. Her sisters
live next door. Family is
everything to Sara.
“I’m often asked whether I
feel Bavarian, and I must say I
do, but that doesn’t mean I run
around at home dressed in a
dirndl,” she laughs. “It’s fun to
dress up on special occasions
like Oktoberfest. But I prefer
something a bit more casual.”
Even during our cover shoot,
Sara comes across as an
unaff ected, almost shy person.
She doesn’t appear to feel
comfortable with her instant
celebrity status, which may be
exactly why she’s so popular in
Germany.
But it is Sara’s role as
ambassador for Menschen für
Menschen (People for People),
an Ethiopian development aid
foundation, that makes her more
than just a pretty face. “When
Menschen für Menschen
approached me, I felt honoured.
I know their work very well,” she
says. She is now in charge of the
foundation’s education project.
Her charity work has also
helped her discover her roots. As a
child, Sara travelled to Ethiopia
several times with her parents, but
to see the sights, to have fun. Her
visits with the foundation have
“I had no idea how to deal with the
contrast between Ethiopia’s poverty and
our affluence. My dad helped me cope”
shown her a harsher side to the
country. “We travelled right into
the heart of the country, to
villages which have no electricity.
Eighty per cent of the locals are
farmers, and they are really
aff ected by a bad harvest. MFM
off ers them development aid so
that they can help themselves.”
Sara recalls how glad she was
that her father came along on
her fi rst trip with the charity. “I’d
lie there at night in a mud hut,
with so many thoughts going
round my head. You get very
emotionally involved. I had no
idea how to deal with the
contrast between their poverty
and our affl uence. My dad really
helped me cope.”
Sara’s parents always ensured
their children were aware of how
lucky they are to be able to make
choices about their future. This
is doubtless one of the reasons
why the young model has
remained so grounded, despite
her rapid ascent to fame.
Her MFM trips to Ethiopia
are also designed to give her
more insight into the situation
there, so she can to talk to young
people about it back home. “I
often give talks in schools, not to
raise money but awareness, to
get young people in Germany
socially engaged and dealing
with the subject.”
Sara supports Generation
ABC 2015, a campaign which
aims to have as many schools as
possible built in Ethiopia by
2015. “During the last school
year, we were able to raise
€250,000 as a result of young
Germans’ engagement. It’s great
to see that I’m getting through
to them.”
Sara is all too aware of the
realities of her career. It’s a job,
and while it may take her all
around the world, home is where
the heart is. “When I’m back in
Germany, ideally I just want to
be in Munich. You know, paying
my bills, getting parking tickets…”
While she still enjoys the
showbiz life, she’s going to keep
at it. And with a personality as
dazzling as hers, we soon expect
to see Sara Nuru fronting her
own TV shows rather than the
adverts in between.