Quotes from Winnie Harlow

For me, honestly, the term 'role model' means for someone to be imitated, and I don't feel like anyone is to be imitated.

I feel like I am an inspiration. That's the word I prefer. I don't believe that I have to be a role model, someone to be emulated.

I try to keep my skincare routine very simple and don't put too much on my face.

There is beauty in everything.

People have black skin, people have brown skin. I have both.

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.

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.

I don't want to be put in a category.

I don't think it's good to focus on being celebrated but to celebrate yourself.

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.

I don't really talk about 'ANTM,' although I'm very grateful for it, as it was the platform that allowed me to catapult to where I should have been.

I get comments saying that I'm a leper, I control how my skin changes, I bleach my skin, my skin's burned. None of those are true.

I am not my skin. I am a model with a skin condition.

I was a lucky kid, and I grew up connected to a lot of people.

I love myself the way I am, but people will always message me about other people with vitiligo who cover their skin. 'Winnie Harlow, you need to tell them that they need to love themselves the way they are and stop covering their skin!' No! If that's what makes them comfortable and what makes them happy, let them be.

My sense of fashion has developed a lot.

You should be careful what you choose to see as a role model, whereas inspiration can come from anywhere.

Chantelle Brown-Young is my real name. Winnie is my nickname that I was given as a teenager, and it has stuck with me. I've combined my real name and my nick name to create 'Chantelle Winnie.' My alter ego, where I seek confidence when I model, is 'Winnie Harlow.'

With vitiligo, my skin is sensitive in extreme temperatures.

I want to see different faces on the covers of magazines, the stars of movies, featured on billboards.

Chantelle Winnie is my birth name. Chantelle Winnie Harlow, I call her my Sasha Fierce.

Winnie Harlow is my alter ego like how Beyonce refers to her stage name as Sasha Fierce.

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.

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.