A trip can shift your entire perspective. Indeed, when model Grace Mahary visited her parents’ homeland in Eritrea for the first time back in 2011, it changed the course of her life. As she toured through the country, Mahary was struck by the lack of something she’d considered a basic: power. “I was astounded to see the number of citizens who live without access to electricity,” says Mahary who embarked on the journey after her first season of runway work in Paris. “It was a very humbling experience to recognize that the youth and citizens didn’t have the same career and educational opportunities within their countries because of a lack of access to energy.” Eager to find a way to improve the situation, Mahary started Project Tsehigh, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a sustainable energy infrastructure. Over the last four years, Mahary and her team have worked to provide the people of Maaya, a southern village 2 hours from the capital of Asmara, with solar panels and sustainable solutions to the issue. Now for the first time she’s connecting her humanitarian work with her fashion career.

The Canadian model aims to fight energy poverty with her Project Tsehigh nonprofit company. Fashion is not the be-all and end-all for sports ace and model Grace Mahary. Social activism helps keep Mahary, born in Canada in 1989 from Eritrean parents, grounded — and busy.
Mahary was a high school basketball champion before moving to Toronto to kick off a modeling career. Her runway debut in Paris in February 2012 on the Givenchy catwalk helped her become a fixture on the fashion scene, walking for everyone from Victoria’s Secret to Chanel, Christian Dior, Valentino and Balenciaga. However, being a model wasn’t enough for her and three years ago, she founded Project Tsehigh, a nonprofit organization focused on providing sustainable and renewable solutions for communities around the globe that lack reliable energy sources.

As one of the most in-demand faces in modelling she scores regular gigs for the likes of Givenchy and Chanel, in addition to having walked down that coveted Victoria’s Secret runway. But when this leggy runway veteran is off-duty, it’s charity that comes first.

Victoria’s Secret Angel Grace Mahary shares her hustle as a top model and talks her non-profit ‘Project Tsehigh’.

Model Grace Mahary launches a nonprofit dedicated to providing clean energy to communities around the world.