Choose a moment you are super proud of & tell us why
A moment I ' m proud of would be when I left the hospital and then the rehab facility I ' d been living in for about 6 months post injury . I was proud of myself because I knew I ' d worked my butt off to get physically strong and independent again . But also because I had that moment where I looked back at how far I had come in such a short amount of time . I ' d become so resilient so quicklyand it even surprised myself .
Can you tell us about your own campaigns & the message you want to give ?
Absolutely - I would love to . Basically I think it ' s incredibly important for brands and companies to be representing people living with disabilities for a few reasons . Firstly , they are failing to market to almost a fifth of the global population . Secondly , I believe that everyone deserves to feel represented , celebrated and loved . And thirdly , I have this theory about the connection between media representation and society ' s views of people living with disabilities . I ' ll try to keep this simple for the purpose of it being printed . But basically , I believe that society sees disabilities as undesirable . This means that the media are less likely to promote and represent disabled models . This lack of representation then further feeds into society ' s perceptions of disabled people , creating a vicious cycle . So basically , I think the fashion industry and media / advertising companies have a great opportunity to help change the perceptions of disabilities .
What are your plans for the rest of 2017 ?
The rest of 2017 I am going to continue to campaign for people living with disabilities . I am going to try to continue to get more exposure and more modeling work . I ’ d love to branch into the fashion industry soon . But , again , I ’ m taking it all one step at a time .
Would you like to come back to CPM in 6 months to catch up with us for another feature ? Yeah , I ’ d love to check back in with you in 6 months . It would be great to see if I ’ ve made much progress and review that last 6 months .