Winnie Harlow
FeNi I-I-
FeNi I-I- Directive
Harlow: "I think we need to take a step back and realize what the real issues are - it's not being from different places or being different."
Harlow: "It's amazing what a little encouragement can do."
Harlow: "Regardless of what race, what color, what sex, what nationality, what sexual orientation - regardless of who you are, equality should always rule! Whatever is right for you is right. Period."
Harlow: "I had to relearn how to love myself by forgetting the opinions of everyone else and focusing on my opinion of myself."
Harlow: "If humans want to see the same types of people over and over, that's what industries will give us. If we want to see something different, that's what they'll have to give us."
Harlow: "The more people see, the more they want to see."
Harlow: "My confidence was more of a fake-it-until-you-make-it kind of thing. I tried to build my own confidence and not rely on the opinions of others."
Harlow: "I loved myself. And with that, opportunities start to fall into my lap. And I thank God for all of them."
Harlow: "I remember sitting by my window, wishing upon the stars that my skin condition would go away. I wondered, 'Why me?'"
Harlow: "I am the underdog, and I want to prove that one can follow one's dreams despite all the flaws and setbacks."
Harlow: "I learned to love who I am despite what anyone would say about or to me. This gave me the courage to really stand up to anyone or any obstacle in my life."
Harlow: "I was a lucky kid, and I grew up connected to a lot of people."
Harlow: "If you're not drinking enough water, or you're not eating enough vegetables, or you're not working out enough, or you're not getting your toxins out, I feel like it always reflects."
Harlow: "You should be careful what you choose to see as a role model, whereas inspiration can come from anywhere."
Harlow: "Growing up, I didn't have a lot of real friends, and the people I was friends with, I've grown apart from - they were frenemies more than anything."
Harlow: "If one day I'm all black, I'm still a model. If one day I'm all white, I'm still a model."
Harlow: "If God wanted be to be black, I'd be black; if he wanted me to be white, I'd be white, so I guess He chose for me to be both and original. That's the way I'm supposed to be."
Harlow: "Some rules are there for a reason - but it's one thing to have a rule that protects and another to have rules that stifle."
Harlow: "You can't let someone else lower your self-esteem, because that's what it is - self-esteem. You need to first love yourself before you have anybody else love you."
Harlow: "I always loved the spotlight, just not the negativity."
Harlow: "When I was young, I was picked on for something that today I feel is amazing. One thing about me connects millions of people around the world. And it's my skin condition - vitiligo."
Harlow: "I have my flaws, but I embrace them and I love them because they're mine."
Harlow: "I didn't have a problem with myself or my skin. I had a problem with the way people treated me because of my skin. They tried to define me."
Harlow: "Everyone is different, which is what makes us all the same."
Harlow: "A journalist in Toronto named Shannon Boodram saw my Facebook page and told me I was 'strikingly beautiful.' She shot a YouTube video of me, and it made a hit, grabbing thousands of views. She said the camera loved me and that I should be a model. I had never thought about modeling - it just hadn't seemed possible."
Harlow: "I don't remember my skin changing, but I do recall feeling deeply loved by my family."
Harlow: "I think you have to feel your best by yourself. I do think it's important to have a solid friend that you can turn to, though - one that you can vent to."
Harlow: "You think of floating on a rock in space as so alien, but that's exactly what we're doing."
Harlow: "Social media is a great way to get discovered in the industry because it's free, it's worldwide, and everyone's on it - a very powerful combination."
Harlow: "I give kudos to people like Zendaya who are like, 'Yes, I want to inspire young kids.' And I'm like, 'Girl, that's a lot of work!'"
Harlow: "When I got older, it got harder because when kids get older, they get meaner, so I went through a lot of bullying and people calling me, like, 'zebra' or 'cow,' so it was really hard growing up."
Harlow: "Winnie Harlow is my alter ego like how Beyoncé refers to her stage name as Sasha Fierce."
Harlow: "I discovered that I was 'different' in the third grade. As the new kid at school, I was trying hard to find my footing. I thought I had made friends with a couple of girls - until they stopped talking to me. When I confronted them, they said their mothers had warned them to stay away because they might catch my skin condition."
Harlow: "I am literally just a human. I have the same brain as you; there's a skeleton under my skin just like yours."
Harlow: "I am happy with my skin, and I'm proud of my skin, which is why I wear it so boldly. But if a job wanted me to, say, try a smoky eye and cover the vitiligo around my eye, I wouldn't have a problem with that."
Harlow: "Things were fine in elementary school, but when I moved schools in grade three, not only was I the new kid, I was the new kid with the skin condition."
Harlow: "Growing up in the greater Toronto area, I was a happy kid. I was my mother's first child, surrounded by admiring godparents and cousins."
Harlow: "For me personally, I have vitiligo, so my whole career, it's always been this very odd debate: 'Does she want to be white? Is she white and black? Is her mum white?' It's always been this question of my background, my race, and what I stand for."
Harlow: "I don't do much cooking because it's impossible when you travel so much. You go grocery shopping, buy everything, and then get a call to fly out for two weeks. By the time you're back, all the food is rotten."
Harlow: "I don't want to be put in a category."
Harlow: "I faced challenges as a kid, but who hasn't? A lot of people have experienced far worse. I was bullied, sure, and it was painful at the time. I even quit high school to get away from it. But I've never been the kind of person to let my past predict my future."