At 30, I developed a brutal case of long COVID. It derailed my life, making me reconsider just about every aspect of it. Previously, I had been an elite athlete, and not only was that a cornerstone of my identity, it was how I cared for myself mentally and physically. With long COVID, I developed complete exercise intolerance and five new disabilities. Without exercise, I started to spiral. I had always sort of eschewed modeling because it felt frivolous—I fully admit to being part of the generational, cosmetics-aren't-feminism overcorrection of being a teen in the 2000s—but when every other part of my life became impossible to manage, frivolous was a new lifeline for me. Finally leaning into beauty and skincare and fashion and all of those loves I've always harbored but never celebrated, that's what finally, after nearly a year, started to improve my health.

Modeling is something that helps me love myself on days when having chronic illness and multiple disabilities makes that very hard to do. If I had a mission statement for modeling, it would be this: I’d like the chance to show other people suffering from illness/disease/low confidence/trauma/whatever-it-may-be that showing yourself a little love can truly be the best medicine.