Jocelyn Greene

September Member Spotlight- Jocelyn Greene

Jocelyn Green was diagnosed with vitiligo at a very young age. Her parents first noticed her skin changes, and her father suspected it was vitiligo due to family history. She is the first female in her family to experience vitiligo.

The biggest obstacle she had to face was battling her inner struggle about the perception of her disease. She was unsure of what to make of her disease and at first, it affected her greatly. In elementary school, she would wear long sleeved shirts and long pants because she wanted to cover up her spots. She finally rose above her inner struggle when she realized that she still had friends and boys who liked her. This was her epiphany moment, in fourth grade, where she says she “finally felt carefree” about her skin. She realized her skin wasn’t holding her back from anything. She feels grateful that she had great friends in high school, because they had her back if anyone tried to say anything negative about her skin. Since her younger years, she has felt confident in her skin. She wants people to know that “vitiligo is just a different color skin. It's not contagious, it's not rough, and it's not a disease. Treat people the way you would like to be treated and don't make anybody feel bad for being different.”

Jocelyn has been a member of Beautifully Unblemished for almost one year. She first heard about our group from its founder, Tonja Johnson. Since then, our group has helped her see vitiligo from other points of view, as she had only seen it from her own. She loves being involved in our group and says, “it’s fulfilling to me that I can speak about my experiences with the group, and also motivate and uplift them as well.” We are so thankful to have Jocelyn as part of our group!