Puerto Rican Model With Down Syndrome Made A Spectacular Debut At NYFW
“One day I looked in the mirror and said ‘I’m going to be a model and I’m going to make it to New York’ and look, here I am”
This season’s New York Fashion Week was filled with surprises, but a Puerto Rican model’s bravery and courage may just have been the most inspiring surprise of them all.
Puerto Rican designer, Marissa Santiago made Down Syndrome model Sofia Jirau’s dream come true after selecting her to walk down the runway of her glamourous show at The Society Fashion Week event at NYFW.
“Yesterday I achieved a dream. I was born for this and I want to show the world that I’ve got all that a model needs to shine,”stated Sofia in one of her posts.
The 22-year old Puerto Rican model stepped out confidently on the runway donning a supermodelesque aura wearing one of Marissa’s designs. The budding model’s unwavering confidence was met with widespread applause as she took the steps to achieving the final steps of making her life-long dream come true.
Posting on her Instagram after her show, Sofia excitedly said, “One day I looked in the mirror and said ‘I’m going to be a model and I’m going to make it to New York’ and look, here I am. I did it and now I want to model around the world!”
This has been Sofia’s first time ever to walk for such a big fashion week, and we are certain that, given her incredible attitude and stunning good looks, it won’t be her last.
Life hasn’t been easy for the Puerto Rican model. Living with Down Syndrome has shut many doors in her life, especially when it came to her pursuit of a successful modeling career. However, this never stopped her from working hard to achieve her ambitious dreams, as she has done on to conquer the runways at one of the world’s biggest fashion platforms, NYFW.
This might be Sofia’s biggest personal achievement to date, but for the world, she has already proven to be a powerful role model. The model has not only managed to build a top-tier modelling career for herself, but the determined fashionista also happens to be the owner of the sucessful Puerto Rican clothing and accessories line Alavett.
Ambitious, determined and beautiful from the inside out, Sofia is a true source of inspiration for people all over the world. From BAZAAR we wish you promising and bright modelling career we have no doubt it’s going to be brilliant, just like you are.