Ayesha Jones of Birmingham, England is 24 years old and she's stunning any way you look at her. I'm sure you won't find it surprising that she even has a background in modeling because I mean LOOK at her. But you know what? It is surprising because at 13 years old Ayesha Jones found out that she has scoliosis, which makes her spine curve quite noticeably. She was told that a back brace was not an option and her doctor at the time said that unless she had an invasive procedure called a spinal fusion she would be a "pretty girl with an ugly back."
The mother in me wants to reach back in time and slap the doctor who said that to her, and slap him HARD. Who says that to anyone, much less to an impressionable 13-year-old girl. The GREAT news is that Ayesha Jones even at such a young age was determined to prove that doctor wrong.
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Ayesha didn't want to have to have the spinal fusion at the time because she says, "it didn't feel right putting my body through such an invasive procedure. I was still growing and it just didn't feel like the right time to be having spinal fusion."
But that comment about being a pretty girl with an ugly back really got to her, so she started to pursue a career in modeling to show that doctor and the world that she was as beautiful as anyone else. She would get scouted by modeling agencies and then when they found out about her back, she'd be rejected.
So, she says, "I became good at hiding my scoliosis. I learnt to pose in such a way that would make the most of my asymmetrical body. Looking back at those pictures, I was actually a magician!" Then when she was 19 years old she was sent home from a shoot without being paid because the photographer didn't like her back.
That changed everything for Ayesha. She says, "I realized that I had placed way too much importance on my looks and finally, I could see what really mattered in life." She decided that she wanted to inspire people in a different way. She went on to study photography and uses her work to show that "we are all beautiful exactly the way we are." She has published a book of self-portraits called, Imperfection.
When she was 21 years old Ayesha did end up getting a spinal fusion, but not for cosmetic reasons, not because she was worried about being a "pretty girl with an ugly back." She did it because her back had become painful.
As a woman and the mother of two daughters I love Ayesha Jones for showing the world that beautiful comes in many shapes, that it comes from within and that it ignores ugly comments from people who don't know any better. Thank you to this young woman for leading a beautiful life on her own terms. That's exactly the kind of beauty the world needs more of.
Images via Ayesha_Jones/Instagram, The Daily Mail
