This Malaysian woman with vitiligo is redefining the beauty standards

In today’s age of social media and obsession for flawless skin, Sonya Danita Charles has set on a journey towards redefining beauty standards. Standing tall at 5 feet 11 inches, Sonya Danita from Malaysia is living with vitiligo, a skin condition that causes loss of skin pigment resulting in white patches on the affected body parts. Apart from her regular job, she is a fashion enthusiast, body-positive activist and founder of Vitiligo Association, Malaysia.

Due to her skin condition, she had been a target of relentless bullying and discrimination. But Sonya refuses to back down and insists on fighting head-on with those who judge her with prejudice.

Sonya debuted on the runway with the FashionValet x Min Luna show in 2018 and then walked into Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week and grabbed everyone’s attention with her unique looks and dazzling confidence. Since then her reputation as a body-positivity advocate has been riding upwards.

Read more: Meet all the vitiligo superwomen here

Sonya developed vitiligo at a very young age

At the tender age of eight, Sonya first discovered that she had Vitiligo. Her family, initially assuming it to be sunburn, didn’t pay much heed to it.

“When I was eight yours old, it started as a very tiny spot on my face and we didn’t give it much attention. But, it didn’t go away for some time and then my family finally took me to a dermatologist and my vitiligo was diagnosed.”

Vitiligo affects around 1 to 2% of the world’s population and many of them avoid talking about it. Hence, many people in Malaysia weren’t aware of it. It brought quite painful consequences for Sonya as she faced judgement and bullying everywhere be it her school or on the streets.

In school, I was bullied a lot and called names like ‘Dalmatian’ owing to my patchy skin. Some of them labeled me ‘untouchable’ fearing that vitiligo can be communicated by touch. There were a lot of distasteful comments because I was afraid and didn’t speak up. 

Today, if I would get the opportunity to talk to that young Sonya, I would ask that little girl to speak up because the bullies derive power from the silence of their victims. It’s alright to share your feelings with your parents or a friend or even teachers and let them know what you are going through rather than suffering in silence.

Those nasty remarks didn’t confine to the classroom only. In fact, people’s awkward stare when walking on the streets was another nightmare she faced everyday. 

Strangers, walking on the streets would come to her asking if she got burned. May be they didn’t intend to hurt her but they would shamelessly stare at her and it was such a pain.

No treatment worked for her except acceptance and self-love

These everyday incidences made her highly conscious of her condition as she lost a big chunk confidence and self-love. Even stepping out of the house became a challenge.

Her Indian parents tried to get her treated with best possible medicine, not just in Malaysia but even they tried Ayurveda medicines from India also.

From traditional Ayurveda to modern medical science, she tried every existing treatment. She even became strictly vegetarian for two years.

The UV light therapy didn’t work for her either. In fact, the photo therapy caused burning and blisters on her skin.

Even her family fell victim to a fraud doctor who injected steroids in her body in the name of potent herbs. That infusion of steroids temporarily stopped vitiligo spreading, even some of her white spots started to turn brown as a sign of re-pigmentation.

But she constantly started falling ill and after a blood test, it was found that the doctor was fooling them by giving her steroids instead of herbs. When Sonya finally stopped taking those injections, her skin turned back to white again. Those steroids were just suppressing the autoimmune reaction unnaturally, so as she stopped taking them, the vitiligo white spots returned back.

By the time she turned 17, Sonya got tired of all the non-rewarding efforts she was putting in, to become ‘acceptable’ for the society. She realized that this is not something she wants.

So she decided to come to terms with vitiligo as a life-long condition and invest her time and energy in realizing the dream of entering the fashion industry instead of taking any more treatments or making compromises.

Moving to the US for studies helped her greatly

At the young age of 17, she left for the United States to study fashion marketing at Woodbury University.

The inclusive and mature environment in Unites States helped her greatly making a quick progress in the journey of self-acceptance and self-love.

Unlike Malaysia, people in Unites States were less judgmental and more welcoming. It allowed her to be comfortable with her appearance and she gained a lot of confidence.

Now, as Sonya has returned back to Malaysia, she still observes people staring at her sometimes. But, it doesn’t bother her as much as it used to earlier.

“Here in Malaysia, things are a little tougher as compared to the United States certainly because the lack of awareness. Also, the Malaysian society is still a conservative one and the people hesitate to embrace diversity. 

Just like everyone else with vitiligo, sometimes, I too feel like giving up and discouraged, but I really push myself out of the comfort zone to bounce back stronger.”

Raising awareness about vitiligo and body positivity activism

Despite a hard childhood, she has always wanted to become a model. Now that she is blessed with vitiligo and the patchy skin makes her look different from others and brings immediate attention, she is encouraged by friends to try luck in modeling. May be she would be the next Winnie Harlow and in the process, she would pave the way for the coming generations to believe in themselves and chase their dreams no matter what.

“I have studied fashion and marketing and now doing a stable job in the apparel marketing domain, so definitely it will be a big decision for me to take modeling as full time. Moreover, I am still getting comfortable with my appearance. You can say it’s a work in progress. So, I am taking small steps, one at a time, to boost my confidence as well as motivate the other women with vitiligo to accept and embrace themselves.”

By participating in fashion weeks and doing photo shots, Sonya is slowly but surely breaking the moulds of ‘ideal beauty’ and helping the people with vitiligo and other skin conditions to be comfortable in their own skin and accept the way they are.

 

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She believes that the fashion and beauty industry has become more accommodating and inclusive in the recent years. The advertisements and campaigns promoting body positivity and diversity should be welcomed. Still, it’s a long way ahead and the real change would come when inclusivity is not limited to billboards and magazine covers, but practiced in daily lives.

Beauty is all about embracing one’s individuality and uniqueness.