Valentina Sampaio has been on the cover of Elle magazine when she was 19-year-old in October 2016. On social media many people commented “It is almost impossible to figure out that she is actually transgender.”

One year later in 2017, she became the first transgender model on the cover of Vogue. The photos were shot by Mert Alas and Marc Piggot.

In the same years Victoria’s Secret’s sales were in a decline trend. In the winter of 2018, the situation became very clear when the fashion show got shocking results in the ratings for the live broadcast on CBC. People arguably stated that the main factor of the downward trend is the decrease in the quality of the products. On the other hand many people believed that Victoria’s Secret’s fit and similar shaped models are hurting the brand because of the gained momentum in the body diversity and body affirmation concepts along with the lgbti+ movement.

She auditioned for the Victoria’s Secret 2018 fashion show but did not make it to the final show. When reporters asked Victoria’s Secret creative director Ed Razek if they are considering to cast transgender models in the show, he stated, “The show, which has been watched by over 1 billion people in 190 countries, is targeting a large audience. Marketing a transgender model to whole world is not in our plan. Our sister company Lane Bryant does a fashion show with plus-size models. We only offer the models to the market where we sell it, we do not present it to the whole world in a Victoria’s Secret fashion show”. These sentences caused huge negative reactions on social media. The brand’s own models also criticized the approach of the director.

In the following year 2019, Victoria’s Secret apologized for the incident and Valentina Sampaio made an announcement on social media she started to work with Victoria’s Secret.