“Love who you are”

“I have always had an inner strength that makes me positive. I have always believed and trusted that everything would go well for me. I have always liked myself the way I am, and have never had any kind of complex about my body. What you are is the summation of your environment, your parents, but first and foremost yourself. When I reach the end of the day and ask myself, ‘Do I like who I am?’, I have never had any complexes because I know how I feel inside”.

Ever since she was a child, Alicia acknowledges, “my parents and friends encouraged me to be the way I want to be. I never felt pressured to pass, academically speaking. I never felt that they would get angry with me, or punish me if I failed, and that has made a mark on me, because I have done things for myself and not as a result of other people’s opinions”.

Curiously enough, Alicia grew up wanting to be a singer, model or actress. And although there were periods when she wanted to be a marine biologist or a psychologist, she eventually graduated in journalism, but without sidelining her childhood dreams.

“There were times when I did have doubts about my measurements. In my innermost self, I was considering becoming a model, but five or six years ago I had to admit to myself that it was going to be very difficult. I have had to make twice the effort to prove my worth”, she says.

One very influential figure for her was Ashley Graham, the model who has featured on the front cover of magazines like Vogue, Elle or Glamour, among others, without submitting to conventional norms.

Alicia’s dream started to come true in Madrid, on the day a friend forwarded a Women’secret newsletter to her. The lingerie firm was looking for young women for MuyNosotras (#VERYUS), a campaign in favour of diversity and real bodies. “First sent them a video explaining who I was, and then they called me to an in-person casting; I could tell at the time that they liked me, and they chose me. More than 7,000 young women applied to the casting call, “but I am me, and I don’t care what everyone else does, all I care about is what is in my hands”.

Becoming part of this campaign gave Alicia the break and energy she needed to say to herself, “this is what I want to do”. With hard work and perseverance, she has managed to find a way into the top modelling agencies, despite finding it hard at first, because of her height. “It isn’t only about height, but also attitude. Energy. We tend to think of a model as a mannequin and not a person, and I don’t want to feign a voice I don’t have.”

Because of her measurements, Alicia is labelled nearly everywhere as a “curvy” model, but she disagrees with pigeonholing people. “At first, I was embarrassed to say I was a model, because of my height, my weight, the fact that I didn’t have much experience. Sometimes, at a photo shoot people have asked me if I’m from production, and I have had to say ‘No, actually I’m the model’”. She complains, too, that “often I am hired because they want bodies like mine, but then they don’t have the garment sizes for me. On occasions, I have been out shopping with my friends in Spain, and haven’t been able to find the right sizes. And that still happens to me now. All most stores have is S, M and L. Curvy means curves, so they think that if you have a bust, bottom and hips you’re curvy, even though you aren’t fat”.

Alicia has always been happy because she tends to her inner world. “To anyone who doesn’t feel good about their body I would say that if you reach a point in your life where you feel bad, you should [...]

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