Emily Gambin has been left heartbroken after learning of Sahara Ray’s death and paid tribute to the Australian model who worked with the Perth influencer for her fashion brand.
Ray’s devastated family confirmed the 34-year-old’s death in a statement to TMZ, revealing she died in hospital this week surrounded by loved ones.
Gambin, known as Em Davies on social media, shared an emotional tribute to the daughter of well-known Australian surfer Tony Ray after working with the model on a campaign for Gambin’s fashion label Venem.
The collaboration came about after Gambin had spent years looking up to the model and her lifestyle — never in her wildest dreams thinking she would one day forge a similar career.
“Hearing the news about Sahara has brought up so many emotions and I wanted to share a little story that not many people would know,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Two years after losing my mum, I started Venem after studying a fashion degree while she was terminally ill/I was her carer.
“I remember going out on a limb and emailing Sahara my entire vision for the very first campaign I wanted to shoot for my brand.
“She wasn’t really modelling anymore at the time, but she believed in my vision and said yes.
“We spoke on the phone multiple times about exactly what I saw the brand forming into.
“At 24, flying to LA on my own to shoot a girl I’d spent years looking up to with my mum was so wild and something I’ll never ever forget.
“It was such a pivotal moment in my career and something I’m so proud of still to this day.
“It was one of the most surreal full circle moments of my life. And to this day it’s still one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”
Gambin remembered Ray as a “beautiful person” who was “pure as f..k”.
“So kind, so warm and so generous with her time because I knew she believed in me,” she continued.
“She didn’t have to take a chance on a random girl from Perth with a brand she hadn’t even started, but she did. And for peanuts, I might add.
“I’m so beyond sad to hear of her passing, especially knowing she has a little baby of her own. My heart breaks for her family and everyone who loved her.
“I’ll forever be grateful that our paths crossed and that she became part of a story that started all those years ago sitting beside my mum scrolling through Instagram.
“Life is so incredibly short. Rest peacefully, beautiful girl.”
Ray became Gambin’s fashion idol when the Perth influencer and mother of one was 16-years-old.
“My mum and I used to sit together on her iPad scrolling through Instagram, looking at girls like Sahara Ray and Mimi Elashiry,” she wrote.
“This was back when influencing wasn’t even a job.
“I remember so vividly my mum saying to me on so many occasions, ‘Imagine if you could get paid to wear clothes like these girls’. And just how beautiful she thought Sahara was.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would one day be my reality.
“My mum passed away in 2016 but those little conversations are memories I’ve held onto and will never forget.”
Ray, who was also a swimwear designer, rose to fame during her relationship with Justin Bieber.
Her cause of death has not been disclosed.