Jillian Mercado, Model With Muscular Dystrophy, Signs With IMG

If you don't know who Jillian Mercado is by now, you're going to want to get to know her, fast.
The fashion blogger and model who starred in a 2014 Diesel campaign has officially signed with iconic modeling agency IMG. Mercado is beautiful, has great style and a deep rooted relationship with fashion, having graduated from FIT. She also has spastic muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair.

Monica Schipper via Getty Images NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 18: Jillian Mercado attends The Blonds fashion show during MADE Fashion Week Fall 2015 at Milk Studios on February 18, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images) Monica…






Mercado told The Wall Street Journal that modeling never seemed like "a possibility" growing up. But while a student at FIT, she was asked to serve as a fit model for friends because she fit into sample sizes.
After starring in the Diesel ad, she consequently landed additional, major jobs including a gig for Nordstrom. Then she received a letter from someone who admired the Diesel campaign, and it finally clicked. "A light bulb went off, and I suddenly thought, ‘Go big, or go home,'" she told WSJ.
IMG represents a slew of diverse models and also produces New York Fashion Week, where Mercado has become a front row regular. Fingers crossed for a Mercado appearance on the runway in the very near future.