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Michaela DePrince has been showing people what she’s made of all her life. The Dutch National Ballet soloist was born in Sierra Leone in the midst of a violent civil war, leaving her orphaned at the age of three. As if living through that trauma at such a young age wasn't enough, DePrince was also ostracized and teased by other kids because she has vitiligo — a condition that causes the skin to lose its pigment. But something clicked when, outside the orphanage, she found a magazine with a picture of a ballerina. Upon seeing this image, she knew that’s what she wanted to do. "I needed to be that ballerina so much," she recalls.
When the orphanage came under threat from escalating violence, a near-death escape and long trek to safety brought her to a refugee camp. From there, she was adopted by an American family and left her war-torn homeland for the United States. Once settled into her new life, her adoptive parents enrolled her in dance classes and urged her to follow her dream of becoming a ballerina. Nearly two decades later, that dream came true when she joined the Dutch National Ballet. As the sole dancer of African descent in the company, DePrince quickly worked her way up the ranks to become a soloist.
Already a minority in a predominantly white industry, DePrince had to overcome the additional hurdle posed by her skin condition. While DePrince credits her adoptive family with helping her defy the odds stacked against her, she has made it her personal mission to inspire people of all stripes with her story. “Just knowing that I’ve helped somebody do something that they’ve always wanted to do — or helped somebody find the confidence they didn’t know they had — that’s amazing to hear," she says. "I'm just trying to show other people who have had different struggles, [that] the way they look, or the color of their skin doesn't matter. It's what's inside."
In that endeavor to inspire hope in others, DePrince recently joined forces with the apparel brand Jockey as part of their Show 'Em What's Underneath, Show 'Em Your Jockey campaign, which has given her an even larger platform to do just that. "The campaign gives me an opportunity to reach more people with my story and inspire others to feel confident and comfortable with who they are, inside and out," she says.
Courtesy of Jockey
DePrince admits that though she's had tremendous success, she still has to deal with her fair share of detractors. But she’s not letting them get her down. “I even still get some hate mail,” she admits. “But it doesn’t bother me because I’m doing what I love, and it’s sad that those people think that just because of my skin color, I shouldn’t do something that’s so beautiful.”
Michaela DePrince has been showing people what she’s made of all her life. The Dutch National Ballet soloist was born in Sierra Leone in the midst of a violent civil war, leaving her orphaned at the age of three. As if living through that trauma at such a young age wasn't enough, DePrince was also ostracized and teased by other kids because she has vitiligo — a condition that causes the skin to lose its pigment. But something clicked when, outside the orphanage, she found a magazine with a picture of a ballerina. Upon seeing this image, she knew that’s what she wanted to do. "I needed to be that ballerina so much," she recalls.
When the orphanage came under threat from escalating violence, a near-death escape and long trek to safety brought her to a refugee camp. From there, she was adopted by an American family and left her war-torn homeland for the United States. Once settled into her new life, her adoptive parents enrolled her in dance classes and urged her to follow her dream of becoming a ballerina. Nearly two decades later, that dream came true when she joined the Dutch National Ballet. As the sole dancer of African descent in the company, DePrince quickly worked her way up the ranks to become a soloist.
Already a minority in a predominantly white industry, DePrince had to overcome the additional hurdle posed by her skin condition. While DePrince credits her adoptive family with helping her defy the odds stacked against her, she has made it her personal mission to inspire people of all stripes with her story. “Just knowing that I’ve helped somebody do something that they’ve always wanted to do — or helped somebody find the confidence they didn’t know they had — that’s amazing to hear," she says. "I'm just trying to show other people who have had different struggles, [that] the way they look, or the color of their skin doesn't matter. It's what's inside."
In that endeavor to inspire hope in others, DePrince recently joined forces with the apparel brand Jockey as part of their Show 'Em What's Underneath, Show 'Em Your Jockey campaign, which has given her an even larger platform to do just that. "The campaign gives me an opportunity to reach more people with my story and inspire others to feel confident and comfortable with who they are, inside and out," she says.
Courtesy of Jockey
DePrince admits that though she's had tremendous success, she still has to deal with her fair share of detractors. But she’s not letting them get her down. “I even still get some hate mail,” she admits. “But it doesn’t bother me because I’m doing what I love, and it’s sad that those people think that just because of my skin color, I shouldn’t do something that’s so beautiful.”
Hopefully she and Misty Copeland continue to inspire little black girls to take up ballet.
