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When 21-year-old Marimar Quiroa was born, her doctors immediately diagnosed her with cystic hygroma, an abnormal growth that typically appears on a baby’s head that grow more and more over time. These growths are filled with fluid caused by blockages in the body’s lymphatic system.
For Quiroa, her growths have left her without a voice and require her to take her food through a tube in her stomach.
Over the years, Quiroa has undergone many operations and surgeries to have her growths reduced, but even now, her appearance will always be “different.”
But Quiroa hasn’t allowed her differences to keep her from being happy and successful with her own life. When she was younger, she taught herself to tell her reflection in the mirror that she was beautiful and remind herself of everything that was good.
Quiroa’s resilience has led her to create a YouTube channel where she teaches her viewers how to do makeup. She has received over six million views on all of her videos.
Although Quiroa has managed to find and create a lot of success for herself, it hasn’t been an easy path.
She has encountered many negative people – both online and in her life – who try to criticize her for her appearance, comparing her face shape to that of a monkey, and stare at her in the street. When she encounters these people, Quiroa admits that she stares back at them until they turn away.
Quiroa is determined to continue making the most of her life by adding even more to her list of accomplishments.
She’s currently in makeup school, honing her own abilities, and has plans to teach deaf students in the future.
Her best advice for herself and others? "To me beauty means to accept yourself for who you are, and to ignore what other people tell you; you show your beauty how it is... it doesn't matter if you have a different looking face. Accept yourself who you are."
Watch Quiroa's inspirational interview here:
