Chapter 9: Advocate

Reader Address: I never expected to become a voice for anyone but myself. I just wanted to be free. But somewhere along the way, I realized that my freedom wasn’t just mine. It was connected to everyone else’s. That’s when I stopped being just a girl and started being an advocate.

The morning after the fashion show, I woke up to a different world.

My phone was buzzing with notifications—texts, emails, social media alerts. The fashion show had gone viral. People all over the world were talking about it. They were talking about me.

I sat up in bed, scrolling through the messages. There were congratulations, invitations, and requests for interviews. There were also hate messages, threats, and cruel comments. The same mix I’d grown used to.

But something was different this time. The positive messages seemed louder. The support seemed stronger. The movement seemed bigger.

“Are you seeing this?” Ivana asked, bursting into my room. “You’re everywhere!”

“I know,” I said, still in shock. “I don’t know how to process this.”

“Process it later,” she said. “Right now, you need to celebrate. You did something amazing.”

I smiled. For the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to feel proud.

The weeks after the fashion show were a whirlwind.

I was invited to speak at conferences, universities, and community events. I was interviewed by newspapers, magazines, and television shows. I was becoming a public figure, a symbol of a movement that was bigger than I’d ever imagined.

It was exhausting. It was exhilarating. It was everything I’d ever wanted and more.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked one evening, when I was particularly drained.

“I’m tired,” I admitted. “But I’m also happy. I feel like I’m finally making a difference.”

“You are,” he said. “You’re changing the world.”

“I’m not changing the world,” I said. “I’m just being myself.”

“That’s how you change the world,” he said. “By being yourself, unapologetically, and showing everyone else that they can do the same.”

The first time I spoke at a university, I was terrified.

It was Harvard, one of the most prestigious institutions in the world. I was standing in front of a room full of students and professors, all of them waiting to hear what I had to say.

I took a deep breath and began.

“I didn’t choose to be an activist,” I said. “I chose to be myself. That choice led me here, to this moment, to this room. But I’m not special. I’m not extraordinary. I’m just a girl who decided that being invisible wasn’t an option anymore.”