Rashid Silvera

High School Teacher

Rashid Silvera has many facets, all of them colorful. At first glance, the facets seem incongruent. Viewed together, though, they paint a portrait of a Renaissance man who knows a thing or two about keeping all eyes focused on him, whether he’s in front of a classroom or gracing the cover of GQ magazine.

A kaleidoscope of Silvera: a tight end with a football scholarship to Colgate. A transfer student and one of only six men at artsy Bennington College, pursuing his intellectual side – and girls – with equal fervor. A divinity student at Harvard, serving as unofficial chaplain to the football team. A beloved teacher (he also earned his master’s in education at Harvard), who will retire at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, after 35 years teaching social studies at Scarsdale High. And, oh yes, a model. Discovered on a beach in the 1980s, Silvera soon appeared everywhere and was the first man of color featured in Ralph Lauren ads.

Then there’s the look: handsome and outrageously stylish. On the day we speak, he rocks a magenta blazer over a lime-green cashmere sweater, colorful flowing scarf around his neck, black-felt fedora parked at a jaunty angle. He laughs, noting “my eye for putting style in my substance, and substance in my style.” He should know.

Our Best of Westchester Party is July 23!

Close the CTA

Holiday flash sale ... subscribe and save 50%

Limited time offer. New subscribers only.

Close the CTA