Twenty-year-old Alexia Rivera is a model from Long Island, with campaigns for companies including Sephora, Kohl’s, and CVS Beauty. She also has Down syndrome – and after being inspired by another model with Down syndrome, she’s hoping to inspire other girls like her.
Rivera and her parents spoke to CBS News about her career, which started when she saw British model Ellie Goldstein. Goldstein, who is signed with Zebedee Management, has modeled in numerous campaigns since signing on with them in 2017 but went viral when she became Gucci’s first model with Down syndrome. She’s since appeared on the digital cover of Allure and the cover of Glamour Netherlands.
“My disability makes me inspirational to others. My advice is to always be yourself, and never give up on your hopes and dreams,” Goldstein told Allure. “I am like no other person. I’m just myself. And I’ve made history.”
Those history-making campaigns inspired Rivera. “When she saw Ellie Goldstein on that cover, with Gucci sponsoring it, she was like, ‘She has my face, mom. I want to do it too,'” her mother, Alexandria, said. Now, her face is gracing ads in Sephora storefronts, as well as on a giant billboard in New York City.
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“I got really excited and choked up. It feels amazing,” Rivera said of seeing herself in her hometown mall. She added, “Girls like myself, just don’t limit yourself. You do it.”
Rivera is now also signed with Zebedee Management, and is proud of the struggles she overcame to get where she is today; she previously had a stroke and suffered paralysis after being diagnosed with Moyamoya disease, a chronic and progressive condition of the arteries in the brain. She also founded an inclusive boxing class with her father for people with different abilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Beauty is definitely within us. It’s not just on the outside thing, not the shell. It’s who you are, how you love and care for others,” her father, Eddie, said. Both parents said Rivera now has the opportunity to be the role model to other girls that Goldstein was for her.
“Seeing her up there, seeing something we never thought possible years and years ago, it’s amazing how the world is becoming more accepting and diverse and more inclusive,” Alexandria said, while Eddie added, “What I see is an opportunity for other individuals to say, ‘Hey, if she can do it, I can do it, too.'”
