Zoe Madison is 14 years old and learning to love her own skin again after she was diagnosed with Vitiligo three years ago.
It's a condition that causes a loss of pigment in the skin and progresses unpredictably.
“People don't really ask questions about it that much, they just more stare,” Zoe says. “A lot of people think it's either contagious, that I have skin cancer or that I'm a burn victim.”
Zoe hasn't always been OK with showing-off her differences, until recently.
She attended a Vitiligo conference in Houston, TX where she met others just like her.
"We needed to hear someone else say, you're beautiful, you're worth it," Zoe says.
When Zoe came back home to Tulsa her mom Jessica looked for a support group to continue the positive progress she saw at the conference but couldn’t find anything.
That’s when Zoe decided they had to do it themselves.
“I'm on it! We're going to make this happen.” Madison told her daughter.
Zoe and Jessica met with the Equality center of Tulsa and started a branch of the "Visibly Imperfect Perfect" support group.
The group will empower and connect people of all ages and races who want to feel comfortable in the skin they're in, regardless of how they look.
Zoe's positive state of mind and need to help others is a welcome change from the little girl who felt "different" after her diagnosis just a few years ago.
“It almost makes me cry just thinking about how sad that she was but she's definitely much better and she's in a place now where she can help other people,” Madison says.
The Visibly Imperfectly Perfect group will meet on the 4th Thursday of every month at the Equality center starting in September.
The first meeting will be on September 26 at 6:30 p.m.
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