Alba Parejo is a beautiful teenager from Barcelona, Spain, who’s showing the world what beauty and body-positivity really look like.
She was born with over 500 birthmarks on her skin as a result of congenital melanocytic nevus, a rare skin disease that occurs at birth. The condition causes large moles and dark patches of hairy skin to form all over her face and body.
For years, Alba was bullied by her peers who shamed her appearance and destroyed her self-confidence. They branded her a “monster,” “dalmatian” and an “alien,” because kids are just downright mean.
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“She is more precious than rubies…” Proverbs 3:15
The Bible tells us that we were ALL created in the image of God, and His love for us surpasses all understanding. It’s heartbreaking to see a young girl growing up to believe anything different than those truths.
By the age of five, Alba had undergone 30 operations to remove her birthmarks, but the pain was too much to handle.
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The Barcelona native is now 16 years old, and recently decided to embrace her birthmarks for their beauty. Alba posted pictures of her skin online, which garnered thousands of retweets and “likes.”
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“I had people contact me from all over the world, telling me how inspirational I was and it has helped to love who I am and my skin.”
The overwhelming amount of support inspired the teen to enter a beauty competition, where the winner would become the public face of an empowerment campaign.
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To her own surprise, Alba won the competition, and photos of her and her perfectly-imperfect skin are featured on billboards and in shopping malls around her city.
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Today, Alba is very happy with her body, and she “adores” her skin. But the journey to body-positivity has not been easy on the teen. As a child, loving her body seemed impossible.
“I was 13 years old and just wanted to be normal. I spent whole days crying wishing I was someone else. I was very embarrassed and ashamed to let people see my nevus and scars, because I was insecure about my body because of all the bad comments I had heard.”
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She says that as time went on, she realized that her body’s imperfections were a major part of what made her who she is—“both physically and psychologically.”
“I realize now that my skin is beautiful, special and unique.”
Alba says she hopes her modeling and openness about her condition will educate people, and serve as an encouragement to those who suffer from similar diseases. Most importantly, she wants them to know that they are beautiful, and they don’t have to hide.
“I love it when people tell me I have changed their life for the better, for that reason I want to keep showing myself. I want to make people accept that we are all different and we don’t have perfect bodies.”
