Samanta Bullock

Samanta began modelling aged 8. In 1992, aged 14, a bullet wound left her with life-changing injuries and she has been a wheelchair user since then. Samanta has always been very active and took up wheelchair tennis, going on to represent Brazil from 2003 – 2009 and winning the doubles silver in 2007 at the Para Pan Am Games. 

Samanta is a Proud Paralympian Ambassador for the International Paralympic Committee, where she works on delivering a project to para athletes around the world. She also performed on sway pole in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games. 

In addition, Samanta continues to be both a working model and an active campaigner for a better, more inclusive fashion industry. She is passionate about inclusion of disabled people throughout the industry – as models, designers, photographers and – of course – as customers. 

 Samanta has modelled in Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Turkey, Dubai, the UK, the US, and Northern Ireland. She participated in London Fashion Week and Fashion’s Finest as both a model and a panellist. She works with numerous designers to make clothes design more inclusive and adaptable, for example considering the cut and comfort of clothes when people are seated as well as standing. 

 Samanta has a large social media following, speaks to school groups in the UK and Brazil, and is an ambassador for Fashion Inclusivo in Brazil and Parallel Global. Her work was instrumental to creating an inclusive fashion panel as Central St Martin’s in London and she was a judge at Naidex in 2018, returning in 2019 as a judge and also a speaker. 

This year Samanta has launched her own fashion brand and online store ‘SB’ with a focus on quality, sustainability and – of course – inclusivity. 

She says: “Do what you can with what you have with your best every single day.”