THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!
From the 3rd Annual Shorty Social Good Awards

Jillian

Entered in Diversity & Inclusion

Objectives

This is the empowering story of Jillian Mercado: a model's journey from being born with spastic muscular dystrophy all the way to gracing the pages of major fashion magazines. (Was she born with muscular dystrophy or did a doctor dislocate her spine?)
Jillian is keen to fight the lack of representation of people with disabilities in the fashion industry and their enduring stigma.
The objective of this documentary is to spread her message and to open the fashion industry to people with disabilities.

Strategy and Execution

Following Jillian for five months during her day to day life, experiencing the difficulties of moving around NYC with her wheelchair, attending castings and events with a lack of access for people with disabilities.
We interviewed key players in the fashion industry, from Nicola Formichetti - Diesel's creative director who selected Jillian for his first campaign, to Ivan Bart, President of IMG Models - the agency that signed Jillian and is currently representing her.
Another key addition for the film was using content generated by Jillian through her smartphone.


Results

"No matter how many views, how many shares or how many likes this video had -
the result that matters is to see models with disabilities integrated in the fashion industry, in major shows. For this there is still a long way to go"
Jillian Mercado

Media

Video for Jillian

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Film Pills, Jillian Mercado

Links

Entry Credits