Helena Houdová (born December 27, 1979) is a model and humanitarian who has covered or appeared in countless fashion magazines including Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Vogue. According to FHM, "Houdová is one of the 'Top 100 Most Beautiful Women' in the world and is one of the most successful models in the competitive fashion model industry." She is known for donating almost all of her earnings to charities for orphans and disadvantaged children. She is President and Founder of a charity devoted to these causes called Sunflower Children which she started in 2000 after being crowned Miss Czech Republic. Her pronounced hoh-daw-vah:.
Houdová was born and raised in Plzeň, Czech Republic. She has been working in orphanages since the age of 15 and learned sign language in order to communicate with handicapped orphans in Plzeň. She adopted 4 young girls on a part time basis and her family tends to them in Plzeň. While besieged by modelling agencies hoping to sign her as a teenager, her father refused to let her model until she completed her university degree. She majored in Anthropology. After completing her studies, she moved abroad to pursue work through a Parisian agency. Houdová later relocated to New York City.
Aside from being a mother, a model, a humanitarian and a goodwill ambassador, Houdová' spends most of her free time running Sunflower Children operations in 15 countries supporting 11,000 disdavantaged children. Sunflower Children's mission is to work in different cultures to "move people from indifference to compassion," she says. She has been vegetarian since the age of 15 and continues to look after her 4 part time adopted girls. She has one child (Darien, under age 1) with U.S. businessman and entrepreneur Omar Amanat.
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