Working as a stylist in a New York photographer's studio, Williams was discovered at age 17 by celebrity clients such as Lena Horne and Sammy Davis Jr.[1] Her career began as an exclusive model for magazines such as Ebony and Jet.
However, the discrimination she faced in the United States as an African-American[2] led her to relocate to France in 1960, where she found success modeling for designers such as Christian Dior and Jean Dessès.
[3] She returned to the U.S. in 1961 and despite initial roadblocks went on to be the face of major ad campaigns by brands such as Budweiser and Sears.
Helen also took up drawing and painting in her early model years which she continued long after her retirement.
After a brief marriage to John Clayton Anderson some years earlier, she married Norm Jackson in 1977, whom she had met during her modeling days.