STORM FREDERICK: Anybody who thinks that they could judge someone based on their appearance,
I could say it's ignorance.
They rather judge it than understand but just know that you’re beautiful, don’t let anybody tell you you’re not.
STORM FREDERICK: I used to just get insult after insult. It used to be real brutal like, people actually following me
home to like, make fun of me and tease me. People were just judging me and thinking that my skin was gross or
like, bad comments. Like, they would ask me if I got burns, did I bleach my skin? Just like, crazy.
Well, after a while I just started to say, ‘Ok, this is me, this is what I’m going to do. There’s nothing I can change
about it, so, just be confident, keep pushing, just stay positive.'
My name is Storm Frederick, I’m 20 years old. I’m a model and I have vitiligo.
STORM FREDERICK: Basically, it's just you have less melanin in your skin. I guess some of the cells in your
body that creates the pigment, it's fighting off the wrong ones which creates white patches within the skin.
STORM FREDERICK: I just know I was in the second or third grade, the first spot was on the side of my body on
the right side underneath my arm and then it gradually moved on to like, this finger and it wasn’t easy.
I was completely freaked out because I didn’t know what it was, what was going on. So, I used to wear make-up on
my face like, every single day. I would take the concealer and make sure I have it all over my face, below my eyes
for like, the full coverage and I would make sure it's spread out so that I get each and every part.
The process every single day, it took about maybe 40 minutes. I used to be terrified to walk out in the street.
Even if I used to be on my phone like, video chat with a friend or anything, I felt the need to have makeup on
in my own home. Like, if I took off my make-up, I wouldn’t want nobody to see me and then I made like,
almost like, a promise to myself that the minute I graduate and I go to college that I’ll completely just strip
it off and stop wearing it and that’s what happened.
STORM FREDERICK: Until it just snapped, and I didn’t wear anymore. So, I was like, what are people going to
think like, I felt like, I was walking outside naked.
SIMEON FRASER: She was scared for me to see her without her makeup because she thought that I would
think that she would look ugly or something or I would not like her anymore.
And when she took it off, I thought she was beautiful either way.
SIMEON FRASER: Because it doesn’t matter to me. STORM FREDERICK: Like, some people, I might talk to
them and they might look at my hands or like, they’re not looking me in my eyes, they’re literally looking at like,
my skin. But with him it's like, sometimes I’ll be around him and it won't even feel like I have vitiligo.
It was just like, he’s seeing the person.
SIMEON FRASER: As of now I feel like, she’s more confident in her own looks without the makeup and I feel
like she can go about her day easily without it but she’s just beautiful to me, so.
STORM FREDERICK: The modelling came about because I was tall and I was always skinny. To me it's like,
like showing people it's okay to be yourself, this is who I am like, that’s the kind of positive spiritual energy
I want to bring to people.
AQUIL LEMONS: We’re getting together to do the shoot because I really love her face.
STORM FREDERICK: I feel like, there is a lack of representation because people might see that there are
models out there that have vitiligo and it's like, it's okay. But to me it's not just about skin either, it's about body
shape so I feel like the best way that to really showcase how people are is to show how they are. It shouldn’t
matter if you’re big of small, tall or short. I just feel like, it's all about self-expression in showing who you are.
STORM FREDERICK: For anybody that has vitiligo, that is struggling; just love yourself, be confident.
If you’re not, try to be, but just know that you’re beautiful, you have one life to live. The body that you’re in - that’s
good enough and to know that you’re good enough and that you’re beautiful.
Don’t let anybody tell you you’re not.