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. And I went through puberty and started
00:29getting worse. When people are like, oh, do you have a disease? I'm like, no, it's
00:35not a disease. It's a skin disorder where we don't have enough melanin in our body.
00:40I'm the type of person to make everyone laugh. I'm not trying to be selfish or anything.
00:44Oh, really?
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.
00:55I did go through 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 group
01:04of girls, they encouraged me so much. They really showed me what true friendship was
01:09and they really loved me for who I was. As my vitiligo grew, my personal development
01:15grew as well. Modeling was actually something I always wanted to do. My mom used to model
01:20when she was younger in the West Indies. When I turned 17, I was like, you know what? Let
01:25me just try it out. It won't hurt to try and you never know what opportunities can
01:28bring if you don't try. So I did it and I actually got signed at 18 and I've been
01:33modeling ever since.
01:35When I'm on stage and on the runway, I'm totally different too, even with my vitiligo
01:40showing. It's like I'm a Sasha Fierce. People can see me for who I am. And even though I
01:47get a lot of steers, I can tell people like, this is my vitiligo and I love the skin I'm
01:52in.
