Camila Mendes

“I know what it's like to be the new girl.”

“Vancouver is more laid-back, pretty much what you would expect from a West Coast city. Miami is definitely livelier - the nightlife, the people, everything. It's basically a little slice of Latin America.”

“Everyone's bodies are different, and we all have different shapes, but it has nothing to do with who you are.”

“It's fine to eat dessert when I want to eat dessert because that will give me the peace of mind I need. I'll know that if I ate chocolate cake, maybe I won't the next day.”

“I connect with my culture through my family. I speak Portuguese to my parents so that I can practice. I stay engaged with my extended family through a lively group chat on WhatsApp. That sense of community and family is the heart of Brazilian culture, and staying engaged with my family is what keeps me connected.”

“It was tragic every single time my mom told me we were moving. I would always envy my friends who had grown up in the same house their entire life, and they had markings on the wall of 'me at five years old' and all that. It made me so sad. I wished I'd had that.”