Jillian Mercado is an American-Dominican fashion model and one of the few professionals in the industry who has a physical disability. As an activist, she advocates for more diversity in the fashion industry.

In this first episode of The Role Models Podcast, Jillian describes her journey into the fashion industry – from collecting magazines as a young girl, to graduating from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, and eventually becoming a professional fashion model for campaigns like Diesel, Beyonce, Nordstrom and many more. Jillian is signed to IMG models and advocates for more diversity in the fashion industry.

Follow Jillian on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jilly_peppa/

For more, visit http://rolemodels.co/podcast

Photo by Jamie Ellington.