00:00Somebody actually told me this. They're like, you know, somebody with your skin
00:03disorder should be sad and depressed. And I'm like, why?
00:08My name is Carlene John. I'm 25 years old. I started getting vitiligo around 14, 15.
00:15It was end of junior high school, going into high school. I had a few spots on my
00:20elbow and my arm, but it was really tiny. And then when I got to the eighth grade is
00:25when I started getting it on my face. As I went through puberty, it started getting
00:29worse. When people are like, oh, do you have a disease? I'm like, no, it's not a
00:35disease. It's a skin disorder where we don't have enough melanin in our body. I'm
00:41the type of person to make everyone laugh. I'm not trying to be selfish or anything.
00:47Everybody's like, why are you always happy? And I'm like, in order for you to be
00:50happy, you got to make yourself happy. You can't let others do it for you. I did go
00:56through the whole depressed stage. I definitely stayed in my house a lot. I
00:59did not go anywhere. I met a couple of friends in junior high school. These
01:04group of girls, they encouraged me so much. They really showed me what true
01:08friendship was, and they really loved me for who I was. As my vitiligo grew, my
01:14personal development grew as well. Modeling was actually something I always wanted to
01:19do. My mom used to model when she was younger in the West Indies. When I turned 17, I was
01:24like,
01:24you know what, let me just try it out. It won't hurt to try, and you never know what
01:27opportunities you can bring if you don't try. So I did it, and I actually got signed
01:32at 18, and I've been modeling ever since. When I'm on stage and on the runway, I'm totally
01:38different too, even with my vitiligo showing. It's like I'm a Sasha Fierce. People can see
01:44me for who I am, and even though I get a lot of stares, I can tell people, like, this
01:50is
01:50my vitiligo, and I love the skin I'm in.
