As an aspiring black/brown-skinned model,  I have come across tons of discrimination. I’ve been told I was too dark, that  I have African features (big nose, big lips, big butt) so I wasn’t fit to be a model by couple of agencies. Insecurities started hitting me- I didn’t feel beautiful- I was told I wasn’t because I’m too dark. I totally gave up on modeling. But then my mom talked to me and said : “Don’t let nobody/anybody stop you from dreaming and making it reality”. That still didn’t hit me until my son told me “Mom,you’re a beautiful dark-skinned girl and you have a good heart”. Those words touched me and ever since then, I have embraced my race and my complexion. I love the skin that I am in. My goal is to become a working model, not necessarily a famous one, although it wouldn’t hurt if I gained notoriety in that process. I want to become a working model because I have the passion, drive and I know that I’m a great one.  I will keep pushing myself to reach where I wanna be. - Una Momolu | darkskin-longlegs.tumblr.com

Being a coloured girl in fashion is well, interesting to say the least. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job - and like any other job it has it’s ups and downs, but being coloured only marginalizes you even further than gender or weight or height. For example, as a brown girl, I pretty much need to accept that it’s highly unlikely I will ever travel to Asian countries like China or Japan for work, since they tend to favour blond haired blue eyed white girls.

On the bright side, as a coloured girl you know from the get go that you stand out, as I would say 70% of models are white. BUT you are also probably less likely (in some respects) to get as much work as any of those other models. I remember looking at an agency’s website in Germany and seeing ONE coloured girl, my mind was blown. Unfortunately, fashion is just that type of industry - but it’s slowly changing.

Moving to London to model has really opened my eyes and broadened my perspective though. It’s so multicultural here and so many brands use all different coloured models for their ads, campaigns, e-commerce etc. As a brown girl, I just need to remember that it’s not always your “skin colour” but perhaps your “look” that determines whether or not you get a job. Like any other job, at the end of the day, you just need to be the best you can be and break down racial stereotypes and stigmas.

My goal as a coloured model is to demonstrate that we can be just as successful, and do the same job as a white model, to the same standard. Modeling is not a career that lasts forever, it’s the kind of job that you make the most of while you can, and this is my chance to make something of it. At the very least, I want a little brown girl looking at a magazine to see HER OWN colour represented on the pages, and not a colour she’s supposed to see as superior, or beautiful, but understand that HER colour is beautiful too.- Shivani Persad main blog: glassesnlashes.blogspot.ca | liveshiv.tumblr.com