Indonesian Model: Laura Mulyadi

Laura believes that to be pretty, you must have confidence in yourself. As she said to JakartaGlobe:

When I was younger my hair was really short and everybody thought I was a guy or a transvestite. Even when I was in the Miss Indonesia pageant a blogger said I should join Miss Transvestite Indonesia. When people stare I just smile back at them. I’m ethnic Chinese, but you can’t tell. I stopped walking with my dad when I was 14 because I was so tall at that age people didn’t think I was his daughter.

I grew up in the ethnic Chinese community. Even my cousins always thought I was different. Once, when I was in elementary school, my teacher was talking about blood types and he said ‘Laura, it’s gonna be tough for her if she gets sick because she’s adopted and her parents might have different blood types.’ How was it even possible for him to say that in front of his students? I was 9 years old. Of course I cried. When I was younger, my parents would order pure milk and I would have to shower in it. They thought it would make my skin lighter. But I always believed that things were going to happen for me.