Once Bullied For Her Freckles, This 18 Year-Old Has Modeled for Beyonce And Is Now Signed To Ford

You have to learn to love all the parts of yourself. If there are parts of you that you don’t like, you can work on changing them or work on coping with who you are and trying to accept yourself. A big way to love yourself is to ignore what other people say

Salem Mitchell is anything but your typical teenager. The 18-year old first began by posting pictures of herself on Instagram. The images were taken by her classmates at he San Diego School for Creative and Performing Arts.  The pictures were met with harsh crtisicism and downright bullying. Mitchell told the San Diego Voice,

I got popular on social media mostly by people making fun of me…I have a lot of freckles, which I don’t see as a problem, but apparently a lot of people haven’t seen them before. People would say I looked like a banana or a cheetah or like I had a skin disease.

Instead of giving into her bullies, Mitchell flipped the script. She posted pictures of herself next to bruised bananas.

“If people are going to laugh at me, I’m going to laugh with them and I’m going to be in charge of the jokes that are about me.”

Now, she’s laughing all the way to the bank. Mitchell was given a full-page spread in Paper Magazine, featured in campaigns for Vogue and Gucci, and last year she was contracted to to help promote King Bey’s Lemonade Album.

“Every time I wake up I ask how this happened to me, but I’m not going to question a blessing.”

Four days ago Mitchell informed fans that she’s been signed to Ford Modelling Agency, writing:

I’m so excited to share that I’ve signed to Ford Models. I remember constantly looking up agencies/their requirements, sending photos to different stores like American Apparel, and taking photos with all my friends at school. I’ve always wanted to model but there was a point where I thought it was unattainable. Super happy that I get to be apart of such a great agency and that the modeling/fashion industry has started to become so much more inclusive. ⭐️ photo by my biggest fan and my biggest inspiration: @ohkemo

Congrats to Salem! And if you like this story, click HERE to read about 19 year-old Khoudia Diop, who was also subjected to bullying because of her dark skin, but is now a professional model.