Diandra Forrest Is The Albino African American Model Who Proves Beauty Isn"t Black And White

What is beauty to you? What determines if someone is beautiful or not? Is your definition of beauty one you have come up with yourself or one society has taught you to believe? Beauty in the modeling industry is ever changing, but there is always someone to break stereotypes and step outside of the box they were once confined to. Diandra Forrest stepped onto the modeling scene and completely took over with her beauty, personality, and uniqueness. She’s an African American with albinism and while she was once teased for her differences, she is now using them to show beauty is what you make of it.

Diandra Forrest is the first female albino African American model to sign with a major modeling agency.

As a child, she felt out of place. In a family of five children, only her and her brother have albinism and kids often asked if she was adopted.

“In school, or even on the train with my mum, there would be parents, adults, who stared at my brother and me and laughed at us. I didn’t understand why.”

But as an adult, Diandra is confident in her differences. “People with albinism are looked at as something that is maybe extra-terrestrial, an odd beauty, not just a regular beauty, whatever that is. It can be fun and entertaining but it should not be a freak show.”

“Over the years, I have found my confidence, as a person with albinism, as just a woman, so that sort of thing does not bother me anymore.”

She says she wishes she had someone around when she was younger who could have seen what it would look like when she grew up.

She wishes she had someone to motivate her and help her understand what she was going through.

But she takes that and applies it today, hoping that children with albinism “know their beauty, and for their parents to instill that confidence in them.”

Follow Diandra on Instagram as she takes on the modeling world and redefines beauty!