Raica Oliveira

Born on January 22, 1984 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Raica showed an interest for modeling at an early age of 10 . Discovered by the same agent who discovered Gisele Bundchen, Sergio Mattos in 1999, Oliveira entered the Elite Model Look contest in Brazil and beat 30,000 girls for the top prize. She was sent to Nice, France, for the final international competition, where she was placed second. After winning second place she immediately signed with Elite Models and moved to New York with her mother. Her career started to raise from the very beginning when she did her first campaign for Christian Dior in 2000. During that same year Raica appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire magazines all over the world. Raica became one of Brazil's most searched top models and was ranked in 2001 to be on the best paid list Brazilian models published by the magazine Istoe Gente, earning US$300,000 for her work, which included walking in more than 76 fashion shows in only two seasons. In the year 2003 Oliveira was the face of Dolce and Gabbana advertising their perfume and also modeling for brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Ralph Lauren and more. The year 2005 when Jennifer Lopez decided to make her own clothing line Raica was chosen to appear on the ads as the head face for the fall/ winter collection and modeled for Victoria's Secret swimwear collection. Oliveira was unveiled as a spokesmodel for the cosmetics company Lancome in 2006 and fashion Spanish brand Punto Blanco. She then replaced top model Naomi Campbell at the Selmark Underwear Collection 2006 fashion show. São Paulo Fashion Week released a calendar featuring 25 Brazilian models including Oliveira, photographed by Bob Wolfenson with art direction by Giovanni Bianco. The calendar was accompanied by a movie containing interviews with the models, which was broadcast at GNT in Brazil and then hit the shelves as a DVD. Raica is featured in the Sports Illustrated 2007 Calendar and appeared at the Sports Illustrated 2007 Sportsman Of The Year Awards on December 4, 2007. Raica has been working as a reporter in Paris and New York for the Portuguese Jornal Record in 2008. She is reporting on fashion occasions occurring in Paris and New York for the program Hoje em Dia which is hosted by fellow model Ana Hickmann. She was going to be the presenter of Fórum Desenvolvimento Sustentável 2008 but was unable to do so because of her modeling work. In February 2008, she appeared in a GQ editorial for United Kingdom. Oliveira landed a contract with the fashion brand XOXO for the year 2008. The new XOXO campaign features both Oliveira's face and name in their brand, revealing her as one of their spokesmodels. She is with Next Models (London, New York, Milan and Miami), Elite Models, Munchen Models, and more. She is featured in the Victoria's Secret new campaign in 2009. This is the second time Raica is advertising Victoria's Secret since 2005 when she appeared in their swimwear catalog.