Inspiring us: Jillian Mercado For Diesel

The Diesel spring ’14 campaign is a bit of a departure from the stock standard campaign images featuring the 6 foot models to which we are accustomed.

Instead there are no models in the campaign shots, and stars Jillian Mercado, a beautiful 26-year-old woman who was diagnosed with spastic muscular dystrophy as a child, and has meant she has been confined to a wheelchair her entire life.

Obviously though, this was but a mere blip on her journey, as she is currently the executive editorial director of WeTheUrban magazine and one of the faces of this campaign. This may not be the first in campaigns featuring a more diverse spread of faces, however its a great further step in the right direction representing all types of people from all walks of life.

Says Mercado of landing the job “Nicola Formichetti gives people chances. He made the casting pretty much worldwide, and he said that ‘no matter where you come from, we want to hear from you.’ I saw the call on his Facebook page, and if he’s doing a casting call, I need to know what it is. I put myself in the lottery, and then a few weeks later, I got an email from their offices saying that they were really interested in me, and they wanted to see more pictures. Then, they said that I was in the next level of this casting, and then I got it! I got an email saying, ‘I would love to have you if you are on board with it.’

The day of the shoot, I spent the whole day with Inez [Van Lamsweerde] and Vinoodh [Matadin], and it was magical. I was nervous. I think a lot of people were nervous, but they were so welcoming and extremely sweet. They made everything super easy.”

You can read some more of Jillian’s inspiring story HERE.