Changing The Face Of Beauty

Maria Jordan MacKeigan of Edmonton has a very speical reason for becoming involved with this nonprofit that encourages advertisers to showcase people of all abilities

As I walk through a very well-known Canadian store with my precious and unique little girl Jordan Grace, I can’t help but have sadness in my heart. All I see are the same types of models showing what we all consume. Each picture has “perfect-looking” models or what we assume to be perfect.

About a year ago, I learned about Changing the Face of Beauty, a nonprofit organization that approaches the advertising world with individuals of all abilities (changingthefaceofbeauty.org).

I wanted to bring this movement to Canada, because as a mother of a precious child living the beauty of Down syndrome, I wanted her to see people not only who looked like her but also who represented the minority of people with disabilities.

It was truly important for me to help make a change, to open the eyes of Canada in the advertising world, and to show what beauty looks like through the face of a mom who is also a consumer.

I got to know a couple of very talented photographers through social media, Melissa DePape and Krista Ewert, and both understood my position because they also have children with Down syndrome. I approached them and asked them if they wanted to bring this movement to Canada with me. They were all for it, and so we began the process of Changing the Face of Beauty here in Edmonton with a headshot clinic.