A biography for Winnie Harlowhasn’t been written yet.
“I'm very sick of talking about my skin.”
“Chantelle Brown-Young is my real name. Winnie is my nickname that I was given as a teenager, and it has stuck with me. I've combined my real name and my nick name to create 'Chantelle Winnie.' My alter ego, where I seek confidence when I model, is 'Winnie Harlow.'”
“There wasn't anyone who was specifically taking me under their wing. I definitely looked up to people, though, one major person being Naomi Campbell, of course. That's, like, a given.”
“Things were fine in elementary school, but when I moved schools in grade three, not only was I the new kid, I was the new kid with the skin condition.”
“People sometimes ask when I learned to love myself. But that was not the issue.”
“You think of floating on a rock in space as so alien, but that's exactly what we're doing.”
“My skin's not a normal sight.”
“Growing up in the greater Toronto area, I was a happy kid. I was my mother's first child, surrounded by admiring godparents and cousins.”
“My sense of fashion has developed a lot.”
“I love myself the way I am, but people will always message me about other people with vitiligo who cover their skin. 'Winnie Harlow, you need to tell them that they need to love themselves the way they are and stop covering their skin!' No! If that's what makes them comfortable and what makes them happy, let them be.”
“I don't perm my hair anymore, but I'm not a natural hair expert just because it grows out of my head like that.”
“I've never been a die-hard Beyonce fan. I always thought she was inspirational and beautiful.”
“I'm happy to inspire your seven-year-old child, but I do not want to be her role model.”
“I definitely hope and I feel that I am inspiring, but I don't like the word 'role model.'”
“I discovered that I was 'different' in the third grade. As the new kid at school, I was trying hard to find my footing. I thought I had made friends with a couple of girls - until they stopped talking to me. When I confronted them, they said their mothers had warned them to stay away because they might catch my skin condition.”
“Regardless of what race, what color, what sex, what nationality, what sexual orientation - regardless of who you are, equality should always rule! Whatever is right for you is right. Period.”
“You should be careful what you choose to see as a role model, whereas inspiration can come from anywhere.”
“I didn't have a problem with myself or my skin. I had a problem with the way people treated me because of my skin. They tried to define me.”
“If God wanted be to be black, I'd be black; if he wanted me to be white, I'd be white, so I guess He chose for me to be both and original. That's the way I'm supposed to be.”
“It's weird to me for people to stare at me, because I feel like I'm normal. I don't see what there is to stare about.”