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Indigenous Labrador model featured as part of Tim Hortons' newest ad campaign

Kerri  Holwell Figueira was once teased for her skin colour, now she's modelling in national campaigns.  (Submitted by Kerri Holwell Figueira - image credit)
Kerri Holwell Figueira was once teased for her skin colour, now she's modelling in national campaigns. (Submitted by Kerri Holwell Figueira - image credit)
Submitted by Kerri Holwell Figueira
Submitted by Kerri Holwell Figueira

Despite being part of Tim Hortons' newest ad campaign, Kerri Holwell Figueira says she never imagined that she would become a model growing up in Labrador.

This was especially true during her childhood in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, when other children would make fun of her dark skin.

"I came home and I was crying and wanted to be bathed to wash my skin colour. I remember [my mom] saying … 'people pay thousands of dollars to have skin like yours,' and something from that time clicked," said Holwell Figueira.

She said that conversation helped her learn to accept who she was — and that she is still accepting it today.

When she thinks about other Indigenous girls who may feel the way she did when she was younger, or getting teased like she once was, Holwell Figueira said she hopes "she knows deep inside and that she is told that she is beautiful."

"We're so unique," she said. "I think what the pandemic, in my experience, has uncovered is a natural beauty... Our dark skin and our features are very distinct and those are things that should be embraced and loved and we shouldn't be afraid or ashamed of."

'My head is spinning'

One of Holwell Figueira's most recent bookings was for the Tim Hortons Double Double clothing collection, which despite only being available to purchase for 20 minutes, sold out.

"The Tim's [campaign] was actually only my second job, so I had no idea that it was going to be national and it was going to be this big," she said.

"My head is spinning. But in a good way, it's just cool. I sit back and think, 'Wow, that's me. That's little me from Goose Bay."

Submitted by Kerri Holwell Figueira
Submitted by Kerri Holwell Figueira

Holwell Figueira first got involved in the industry in 1996, when she was approached by Isabelle Fry after taking part in the Miss Newfoundland pageant. She said it was Fry who planted "this little seed that is now somewhat blossomed" and started her modelling career.

Since that time, Holwell Figueira said she has seen some big changes, and that the "specific niche" that was once sought after has changed.

"I was too short to be a runway model and not short enough to be a petite model, so I just kind of left it. But now, the floodgates have opened and they're looking for natural beauty. There's beauty in imperfection, it's what they're looking at right now," she said.

"Stay true to your roots and don't change for anyone … authenticity never goes out of style."

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