Fashion Mamas for All Campaign

The truth is, I became a Fashion Model because I didn’t feel pretty. As a little girl, being biracial meant that I never fit in and I felt too “different” to feel accepted. I never felt like I was “enough” of anything - “Black enough” or “White enough”. Since fashion is one of the most powerful cultural influencers in our society, I believed that becoming a model would provide outside validation - and allow me to finally accept myself.

Agencies had been scouting me from the time I was 5-years-old, but there was almost no representation of WOC or biracial women in magazines at that time - the industry is still plagued by the implicitly biased beauty standard favoring European or “White” features (even in darker skin tones). So although my appearance was validated in some moments, many clients simply didn’t know what to do with me. When I was hired, my curls were straightened or I was cast as the token ethnically ambiguous girl.

Exhausted by trying to fit into a singular “box,” I had to figure out how to accept my full self in all respects - as a model and as a human being. No more erasure or flattening of my identities. No more box, period. This new form of self acceptance carried into my career path as an adult - people still wanted me to choose - are you a model or a lawyer? I never did. Instead, I continued to diversify my professional life and mentored others on how to do the same.

Becoming a Mom has been the latest continuation of my fluid journey and the most significant metamorphosis to date. Within this transformation I finally found my community, Fashion Mamas. Fashion Mamas can do both. We can be professional women and professional mothers. We don’t ever have to choose. We can be our whole selves fully and without contradiction. I love Fashion Mamas because it is a space where every Mom can feel accepted in her unique journey and show up as her whole and beautiful self. Welcome.

-@Jesyka.Harris , Attorney, Fashion Model, Activist, Los Angeles

#fashionmamasforall #modelsforchange #mixedmessage #selflove