“Hi, I’m Katherine, and I’m a lesbian. For the longest time, I shied away from that word – “lesbian”. It felt so different and othering. “Lesbian” meant biker gangs and being rough and tumble and rugged masculinity, things I did not identify with but the only stereotypes I’d heard of growing up. My family is astutely Roman Catholic, and my parents respectively come from more homophobic countries (Jamaica, the Philippines).As a Filipino, I saw queer people being portrayed as the butt of the joke, as entertainment, never something serious. That always rubbed me the wrong way, even as a child.

I didn’t even know I was lesbian, I just knew I liked pretty things that sparkled, which included women. Boys were gross, wasn’t it obvious? I always read fairy tales and thought it was strange when the princess would end up with a dumb boy, when she could be with another gorgeous princess instead. I remember poring over illustrations of beautiful women in glittering gowns and jewels and desiring nothing more than to be with them.

A huge reason why I came out in my twenties was because I didn’t realize you could be feminine and lesbian. Also, throughout my entire childhood and adolescence, I’d been bullied for being the weird girl (years later, turns out I was just neurodivergent). I didn’t need another reason for them to ostracize me. However, hiding myself only resulted in dangerous, self-sabotaging behaviours and a lot of shame and self-harm when I would be with men. I felt insane and defective for not being able to keep a relationship, but not being able to stomach the men kept me on the run. Denying myself my queerness exacerbated my mental illnesses and made me suicidal. There was a lot of unlearning to do as I came of age.

Since discovering my lesbianism, I can say with full confidence that it transformed my life completely. I feel so much more at peace with myself and genuinely excited for what the future brings. I’ve discovered found family within the community, and finally feel comfortable in my own skin. Truly, being an out lesbian has empowered me to follow my lifelong dreams of becoming a model. Fortunately, I’ve been embraced by the industry and want to inspire others to follow their dreams as well.I love modelling because I believe there is an ample amount of beauty in the world that should be appreciated, not just what stereotypical beauty norms dictate. People need to see a plus-sized, shaved head lesbian of colour being fab and enjoying her life to see it ispositively possible for anyone and they can do it too.

There’s so much in the world to make you feel unacceptable and insignificant and ugly. Authentically being yourself is the strongest thing you can be. Embrace the side of yourself that feels shameful or wrong and channel that into your power. You contain multitudes and are much more resilient than you think.“

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