“It felt just like any other show…it was just another runway.”
Suffice to say, Steveston 14-year-old Amaya Alicia Cruz wasn’t fazed in the slightest when she was hurriedly preparing backstage to hit the runway at New York Fashion Week 2023 last weekend.
Even though she’s only been modelling for less than a year, Alicia took to the Big Apple stage like a duck to water while showing off designs for the likes of Vancouver-based Kayzie Couture.
She did, however, get a bit of a shock when she took her first stride onto the NY runway at Gotham Hall, where she, quite literally, bounced onto the stage.
“I wasn’t nervous or anything…I’m not trying to be cocky, but I’ve walked a lot of runways in the last year and it just felt like any other show, although it was obviously on a bigger stage,” Grade 9 student Amaya told the Richmond News.
“But when I stepped out, (the runway) was really squishy and I totally wasn’t expecting that. I was like ‘oh my God.’ But I recovered. I’ve never experienced that before in all the shows I’ve done.”
A little more than a year ago – and what seems like a world away from last weekend’s “dream” in New York - Amaya, then 13, was in the depths of depression, holed up in her house like so many of her peers during the pandemic.
Since then, she has had a quite stunning transformation and meteoric rise from the end of 2021, when she had absolutely zero modelling experience and had just surfaced from a severe, clinical depression diagnosis.
The former McMath student now attends Richmond’s Station Stretch Alternative Program, having moved there a few months ago from McMath due to her anxiety and aforementioned depression.
Her mom, Pam Abarca, is understandably bursting with pride for her daughter, who wowed audiences and designers alike at no less than 14 runways last year, including Bridal Fashion Week, Vancouver Kids Fashion Week and the Rose and Thorn Fashion Show.
“It’s quite incredible. It’s like a dream right now,” Abarca told the Richmond News from her hotel room in New York City last weekend.
“She was so calm and cool about it. But that’s who she is. She’s just amazing. She’s so down to earth and very humble.”
Cognizant of her struggles with mental health, Amaya has taken it upon herself to help others and will be returning to Richmond’s Touchstone program in the spring to serve as a mental health advocate for peers going through what she did, and still does.
“We’re not all perfect, far from it, and that’s OK,” added Amaya.
“I have my own things to deal with and lots of people out there also have stuff to deal with.
“I want people to know it’s good to reach out and it’s OK not to be OK, if that makes sense? I want people to feel safe talking to other people about what’s going on.”
Abarca, who filters Amaya’s social media pages for her, said her daughter sat down with her recently to talk about what she wanted those pages to look like.
“She said she doesn’t need to look perfect all the time and wants to talk about mental health on there,” explained Abarca.
“She wants people to touch base and reach out to her if they need to.”
Indeed, Abarca said many people have reached out to them since the News’ story online last Friday, telling how Amaya has been “inspiring” to them.
