An 11-year-old Tampa area girl is one of the new faces of Gap.
- April Star, 11, featured in 'Fearless Beauty' campaign
- April has skin disorder Vitiligo, dealt with bullying earlier in life
- April now has 123,000 followers on Instagram
April Star, 11, is featured in the global clothing brand’s “Fearless Beauty" campaign. The campaign coincides with the release of its new "Disney Beauty and the Beast Collection."
April is featured in ads in stores and online.
“My family was going crazy taking pictures of it,” said April. “My cousins would go to the mall and like take pictures by it. It was crazy, seeing like, that’s me on a window of a store.”
April has had the skin disorder Vitiligo for around six years. It causes her to lose pigmentation in her skin, leaving white blotches all over.
Even before the Gap ads, April found fame online. She uses her Instagram page, @RedefinedmyBeauty, to encourage others who have skin disorders.
She has around 123,000 followers and she said she receives around 30 fan emails a week.
“Sometimes it’s really sad reading them, because they’re depressed and I just talk to them and it makes them feel so much better," said April. "It warms my heart that I have the effect on people to make them feel better,” explained the model.
April said it was the social media, and modeling at a young age, that helped her overcome the bullying she faced when she was first diagnosed with the disorder in the first grade.
“People would call me a cow, you’re a Dalmatian dog, and at first it would hurt my feelings and stuff," said April. "And getting older, and seeing how people were telling me 'you’re beautiful, don’t listen to them.' Then I realized I don’t need to listen to these people and I shook them off."
Modeling led to her appearing on “The Real” daytime talk show, which she said really boosted her following. From there, she appeared in People and Essence Magazines.
She hopes to pursue modeling as a full-time career.