Rebekah Marine, 28, a model with a bionic arm, will walk the ramp at New York Fashion Week on Sept. 13 in the FTL Moda show. She was born without a right forearm and started modeling in 2011 when she was fitted for prosthesis.
The New Jersey native is fitted with an i-limb quantum prosthetic hand with advanced prosthetic with gesture control technology. Inspirational speaker and humanitarian became ambassador for Touch Bionics with the help of Advanced Arm Dynamics in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Advanced Arm Dynamics fit her with the i-limb.
In an interview with People, she admitted that at first she thought of quitting the modeling career after being turned down by several agencies.
"It didn't go very well, of course, when casting directors noticed my disability," Marine said of the struggling period.
FTL Moda's upcoming show features a diverse list of models. Along with Marine, other models with disabilities will also participate in NYFW, including Madeline Stuart, 18, an Australian with Down's syndrome.
In another interview with Mashable, Marine said, "It's so important to include more diverse models, because after all, nearly one in five people in America have a disability. We should be celebrating uniqueness; not conforming to what the media thinks is beautiful."
At 22, Marine started her journey in fashion world. Since then, she has walked in NYFW and for FTL Moda at their AW15 show and has been featured in Nordstrom's 2015 anniversary catalog.
Marine has a bachelor's degree in advertising from Rowan University. Now, she is an ambassador for the Lucky Fin Project along with Miss Iowa 2013 Nicole Kelly, Tony Memmel and MMA fighter Nick Newell. Lucky Fin Project is a non-profit organization which helps support those with upper limb differences.