At the age of 12, Iman signed up with Ford Models in California to start her modeling career as a child model. She eventually joined the agency running the Ford Supermodel of the World competition.
Additionally, she has had editorial appearances in several international magazines, including Allure, Dubai, American, and Ukrainian.
The renowned model has furthermore been on the runways for several other designers, including Burberry, Tom Ford, Moschino, Tommy Hilfiger, Jason Wu, Dior, Michael Kors, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Dolce & Gabbana, Kenzo, Hermés, and many more.
She has appeared in commercials for businesses including Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret, Jean-Paul Faultier, and many more.
In 2010, she finally was named a Victoria’s Secret Angel and appeared in several promotional ads. On a Tyra Banks Show episode from 2007, she made an appearance alongside her mother.
Alongside Bar Refaeli, she served as a journalist for MTV’s temporary return of House of Style.
She has also made appearances on a lot of television programs. Chanel Iman had an appearance in the Sundance Film Festival film Dope in 2015. She appeared as herself in the 2017 Crackle original movie Mad Families.
At the beginning of 2010, she founded The Red Bag, a clothes store in Culver City, California, with the aid of her mother. In Beyoncé’s “Yonce” music video, she made an appearance.
She also had an appearance in the music videos for “Dive” by Usher and “Can’t Feel My Face” by The Weeknd. Iman and fashion designer Tom Ford attended the Met Ball in 2012.
She also appeared in a Kinect video game that Intel released on Xbox Live Arcade, together with Chris Evans and Redfoo of LMFAO. She also secured a contract with the electronics manufacturer Skullcandy, located in Utah.
Along with Joan Smalls and Jourdan Dunn, she was selected as Sunglass Hut’s summer ambassador in 2012. Iman was a part of the 2012 Christmas advertising campaign for Amazon Fashion.
She visited East Africa in 2011 on a work trip, where she was one of a select group of celebrities associated with the USAID and Ad Council’s FWD campaign, a public awareness campaign linked to the drought in East Africa that year.
Later, she joined Geena Davis, Uma Thurman, and Josh Hartnett in television and online advertising to “forward the facts” about the issue.
She is presently working as an advocate for education to open elementary schools in Tanzania’s and Uganda’s depopulated rural areas.
Her tremendous desire to serve others inspired her to sponsor many young girls in Kenya, where she pays for both their academic tuition and everyday necessities.
Iman was chosen by American Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to co-host her Runway to Win charity event in Chicago in May 2011. In connection with the occasion, she produced a bag to collect money for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.
She had the opportunity to rank third in Ford’s Supermodel of the World competition when she traveled to New York in 2006.
Chanel Iman was also a nominee for the 2016 Black Reel Awards’ Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female category for her 2015 film Dope. She received a nomination for Choice Model at the Teen Choice Awards in the same year.
