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Top 10 Inspiring models who have challenged beauty standards

8. Jillian Mercado

Jillian Mercado

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Born April 30, 1987 in New York City, Jillian Mercado was diagnosed at a young age with spastic muscular dystrophy and was in wheelchair by the age of 3. When she first started thinking seriously about becoming a model, she searched the web for someone in the modeling world who looked like her, only for the results to come up empty.

Mercado studied fashion marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. In 2011, she featured in her first campaign, for designer Denim’s brand Diesel and then signed with IMG Models. She starred in several campaigns for Nordstrom and former Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld’s CR Fashion Book, photographed by Michael Avedon. In 2016, she was announced as one of three models to appear in the latest campaign for Beyonce’s official website, promoting merchandise for the singer’s new single and 2016 Formation world tour. Since then, she appeared in Glamour and Cosmopolitan magazines and was on the cover of Posture magazine.

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