Rashid Silvera

Model and Educator Rashid Keith Dilworth Silvera was "made" in Jamaica and born in Boston, Massachusetts. Educated in public and private secondary schools in New England, he entered Colgate University in 1967 but soon transferred to Bennington College where he became one of the small handful of original male students to be fully-integrated into the previously all-female student body. He graduated in 1972 with a B.A. in Political Science and Anthropology. Silvera obtained his M.T.S. degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1974 and his Ed. M. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1976.

In 1975, Silvera was hired as a teacher in the history department of the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He taught at Gill St. Bernard’s School in Gladstone, New Jersey from 1976 to 1977, and at San Francisco University High School in San Francisco, California from 1977 to 1979. Silvera returned to the East Coast in 1979 when he was hired as a social studies teacher at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. In 1981, he began teaching at Scarsdale High School in Scarsdale, New York.

Aside from teaching, Silvera worked as a fashion model for a number of years. While staying at the house of a friend in the early 1980's, Silvera was noticed by owners of a modeling agency who launched his career as a model. He first modeled for fashion photographer, Rico Puhlmann. In April of 1983, Silvera became the fourth black male model to appear on the cover of GQ magazine. His appearance would mark the last time an African American male model would appear on a GQcover. Silvera also appeared on the covers of Essence magazine and CODE magazine and was the first African American male to model for a Polo Ralph Lauren advertisement campaign.