A Supermodel Gives Back to Venezuela

Unlike the rest of her high-fashion associates, Venezuelan supermodel Patricia Velasquez isn't spending the springtime under a barrage of hairstylists and stylist fittings.

Instead, she is at the helm of the Wayuu Taya Foundation, a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that since 2002 has worked to improve the living and educational standards of Latin America's poorest indigenous people.

	Patricia Velasquez

Even to fashion outsiders, her face is a familiar one. Velasquez has had a long career as one of the world's most successful models. Her career has included roles as a Victoria's SecretLTD Angel and Egyptian Pharaoh's wife in the Mummy film franchise.

Over the past five years, Velasquez has managed a life of acting and modeling with the full-time responsibilities of operating one of the most hands-on indigenous charitable organizations currently operating in Latin America. Despite an ongoing modeling career and acting commitments that most recently included a role on Showtime's L-Word, you're most likely to see her in an airport or tucked on a plane en route to one of the Wayuu Taya school openings or touring medical centers on the Venezuelan border.

The name Wayuu Taya is derived from the Wayuu or Guajiros, a collection of ethnic groups who speak the Wayunaiki language and have been able to avoid most outside acculturation over the centuries. The Wayuu inhabit the Guajira region, between Venezuelan and Colombian territory, considered the second-poorest region of Latin America behind Haiti. Despite their socio-economical hardships, they remain a tightly joined community of hard-working people.