MARIAH PERKINS: This is what I would put on every day before going anywhere. But it’s
okay to be yourself. You are beautiful no matter what.
MARIAH PERKINS: I am a student at Towson University and I study Criminal Justice.
MARIAH PERKINS: But I aspire to be a dancer. That’s my ideal career choice.
MARIAH PERKINS: I have been dancing since I was basically 3 or 4 years old. I am 21
now. So, over 18 years I have been dancing.
MARIAH PERKINS: Long time!
COMM: Mariah has Vitiligo, a condition where pale white patches appear on the skin caused
by a loss of the pigment, melanin.
MARIAH PERKINS: I first noticed my Vitiligo when I was about 13 and it was just a really
small spot like, on my hand. And then like, it kind of gradually spread to like, spots
on my nose and like, around my eyes and that’s when I like, first noticed it. And then we
went to the doctors, me and my mom, and they told us what it was.
MARIAH PERKINS: This is when I was in the
8th grade. I had actually just developed Vitiligo and you can see it like, kind of starting on my hands.
MARIAH PERKINS: Before like, they don’t look a thing like that now. Because most
colour I had on my arms and my hands and whatever. And this is actually when I just started wearing
makeup and it was the bare minimum of makeup. Like here, here, here and here are the only
places where the Vitiligo actually was. I don’t think there’s any makeup on my forehead.
It wasn’t a super concern until it took up about the 90% of my face.
MARIAH PERKINS: I was already shy. I think it just made me more self conscious and it
made me more overly aware of my appearance.
MARIAH PERKINS: That was another big reason why I wore the makeup because I didn’t want
to be known as the girl with the skin condition.
MARIAH PERKINS: I was living on campus for the first time and that was the time when
I was like sleeping in my makeup. I constantly always had it on.
MARIAH PERKINS: It was easier to wear the makeup than to constantly have to explain
what the condition was to people at that young age. It’s a really good makeup picture I
have ever got. I wouldn’t have known I had on like, foundation for real, if I didn’t notice.
MARIAH PERKINS: My actual shade was not a match. So I mix it like, 3:1 or 2:1 ratio
of the darker colour to the lighter colour. And then I mix them and I test to see if it is the right colour.
MARIAH PERKINS: Having my vitiligo wasn’t a secret because it was on my hands and my
arms as well. But a lot of people didn’t realise the extent to which I had it on my
face. Never received any like, nicknames in relation to the skin condition. The only time
I can ever remember, I think somebody asked me if it was contagious. In my opinion, this
is purely for me. It came off as disrespectful to me. But I understood why they asked it.
MARIAH PERKINS: This stuff is so messy. It drives me crazy.
MARIAH PERKINS: Having on that much makeup, I always had to be hyper-vigilant with everything.
You don’t realise how many times a day you would touch your face or you don’t realise
how many times like, you do something like, lay your head on somebody’s shoulder or
hug somebody and they have one like a lighter colour shirt. But it was always a lot of makeup
and I think the biggest thing was that it was super-expensive because of what I needed.
So I was going through like, hundreds of dollars of makeup, like easily.
MARIAH PERKINS: And then the setting powder makes it not look like I have on a lot of makeup.
MARIAH PERKINS: Whenever I started doing my makeup, it took me over like 30 minutes to
do. And over the years I was able to get it down to under 20.
MARIAH PERKINS: To do like a full face of makeup.
MARIAH PERKINS: But that’s actually it. I forgot how quickly I was able to do this.
This is what I would put on every day before going anywhere.
MARIAH PERKINS: I don’t wear makeup anymore to cover my condition and about a month or
two, it would be about a year since I stopped wearing it officially.
MARIAH PERKINS: Pretty hard to get off.
MARIAH PERKINS: Because I basically just stopped wearing it cold turkey in my opinion. Like,
I mean, I wore it less and less and then I finally just stopped wearing it altogether and then
I haven’t really touched it since.
MARIAH PERKINS: I don’t cover it up because at the end of the day I really can’t do
much about it to change it. So you know I have to live with it. So I guess everybody else does too.
KENDRA JOHNSON: So she came to us, she auditioned for Ladies of Redemption and we loved her,
you know, saw the potential.
KENDRA JOHNSON: She had on her makeup and everything. We had no idea.
MARIAH PERKINS: I thought that it was going to be a big deal. I don’t know what I really
thought what was going to happen because when I joined the group I was still wearing my
makeup. But I had no idea, didn’t expect people to react to it in such a positive way.
KENDRA JOHNSON: And we talked about it and told her you know, ‘you are beautiful without
it. Like, you don’t even need the makeup on. Like, you are fine.’
ERICA MINOR: And then one day she just walked into rehearsal with nothing on and it just,
she looked stunning and from then on I felt like, she just stopped wearing the makeup
and I really, I liked that. She just stopped and she is confident. It takes confidence to do that.
MARIAH PERKINS: They all still saw that confidence in me that I didn’t see. So, I definitely appreciated that.
EDWIN MORRIS LEE JR: In the dance industry, it’s a very judgemental, not only by dance
talent but by looks as well. And I think that she is an example and inspiration for a lot
of people with conditions, men and women alike.
MARIAH PERKINS: Hip-hop is my favourite style of dance because like, ultimately I would
love to be a back-up dancer for like, artists and go on tour with like, some of the
hottest mainstream artists and everything.
ERICA MINOR: Her dancing is fierce. Every time she drops into her split, I can feel it in my groin.
MARIAH PERKINS: How I feel about looking at my condition now versus when I was younger
is that it helped me grow as a person, it helped me become stronger as a person and
give me more self-confidence.
MARIAH PERKINS: What helped me realise the beauty in my skin condition was that just
taking the time to look at it and its uniqueness with an open mind rather than looking at like,
this is a skin condition. I don’t want to see this.
MARIAH PERKINS: And tell myself every day like, I look beautiful. And plus didn’t
hurt that, people told me as well. People started to see me on social media. They have
made it easier for the transition.
MARIAH PERKINS: The message that I hope to send to people is just that it’s okay to
be yourself. It’s being comfortable in your own skin.