15 Latine Models Who Spoke About Their Struggles In Fashion

She told Teen Vogue, “The way I incorporate my Latinidad in my work and advocacy is always making sure that every opportunity or any work I’m in highlights me as I am: gay, Puerto Rican, and Latino. I always keep in mind my people, and I want to make sure I’m representing us in a light of representation not only as a Latino, but a plus-size Latino. Even in a recent beauty and fragrance campaign that I just shot as the only, and maybe the first, plus-size male model and Latino to be in a major beauty campaign, I wore a Latino-designed piece for it. I want to make sure there’s a piece of us being seen as much as possible.”

Ady also told Dazed, “The dial has moved a little bit on the masculine side of plus-size representation, but the intersectionality is not there and there are lots of spaces where that representation can be amplified. … It’s frustrating, and it feels like I’m the only one speaking up. Models that are seen as more acceptable because they’re taller or more masculine aren’t affected, so they’re not vocal about it and I sound like a broken record because I’ve been repeating myself for the past six years.”