Joan Smalls

Early life

Joan Smalls Rodríguez was born on 11 July 1988 in Hatillo, Puerto Rico, and raised there with two sisters. Her father, Eric Smalls, an accountant of West Indian heritage from the U.S. Virgin Islands, and her mother, Betzaida Rodríguez, a Puerto Rican social worker, encouraged her to finish her education before pursuing modelling full-time; she graduated magna cum laude in psychology from Interamerican University of Puerto Rico before moving to New York.

She signed with Elite Model Management in 2007, initially working in commercial modelling for clients including Nordstrom and Liz Claiborne, before moving to IMG Models worldwide in 2009 to focus on runway.

A turning point at Givenchy, 2010–2012

Smalls’s career turning point came in January 2010, when Riccardo Tisci cast her as an exclusive model for Givenchy’s Spring/Summer haute couture show. She began working with Victoria’s Secret that year and became the first Latina model to serve as a global face of Estée Lauder in 2011. By September 2012 she had been named Model of the Year at the 9th Annual Style Awards and ranked first on Models.com’s Top 50.

Supermodel status and business ventures, 2013–2018

In September 2013, Vanity Fair featured Smalls alongside Karlie Kloss as part of "The New Supers," and Forbes ranked her 8th on its World’s Highest-Paid Models list, with estimated earnings of $3.5 million. American Elle put her on its January 2014 cover under the headline "The Return of the Supermodel: It’s Joan Smalls," followed by an American Vogue cover that September. She developed a line of matte lipstick shades with Estée Lauder in 2015 and launched a denim collection with True Religion, before co-hosting MTV’s House of Style with Karlie Kloss in 2017 and taking film roles in John Wick: Chapter 2 and Set It Up in 2018.

Recent record, 2024–2026

Smalls has continued walking the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in both 2024 and 2025, extending a run that began in 2011. She appeared in Anne Klein’s Fall/Winter 2025 campaign alongside Candice Swanepoel, and was announced as part of Donna Karan New York’s Spring 2026 "The Edit" campaign with Adriana Lima and Grace Elizabeth in February 2026. Described as the first Puerto Rican model chosen for campaigns by houses including Gucci, Chanel, Fendi, Versace and Givenchy, she has appeared on the covers of Vogue Italy, Vogue US, Vogue Japan and more than a dozen other international titles.

Why is Joan Smalls ranked #24?

• Current international runway, campaign and editorial visibility qualifies within the rolling five-year window.

Confidence: Medium confidence · evidence reviewed. Scores may change when a source is corrected or new work enters the current window.