How Actress and Model Jillian Mercado Is Breaking Boundaries For Disabled Latinas

In 2014, Nicola Formichetti, the former artistic director of Diesel (who has worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga), selected Mercado to appear in the line's spring 2014 ad campaign, launching her modeling career.

Mercado told Racked that she'd originally written off the idea of modeling. "I suppressed the feeling because I didn't think anyone would take me seriously," she said. "I never thought I'd get picked, but my friends encouraged me to try out, because, hey, you never know — and two weeks later, they got back to me."

Mercado still works with Formichetti and considers him a good friend. Prior to that first Diesel shoot, Mercado had her own fashion blog and worked as the editorial director of We The Urban magazine, but she was largely behind the scenes. However, she was able to book more modeling gigs almost immediately after the Diesel campaign came out.

Mercado signed with IMG Models not long after the Diesel campaign. She has since appeared in various magazines and been hired for several print campaigns for major retailers, including Target, Nordstrom, and Olay. She's currently represented by CAA Worldwide, one of the world's largest talent agencies.

In 2016, Beyoncé hired Jillian to model for her "Formation" merchandise print campaign, marking a special moment for disability representation. Jillian led the highly visible campaign, which appeared on Bey's official website. "All this press on my announcement on Beys site is truly surreal & amazing," Mercado tweeted at the time.

In 2018, Mercado got a spot in a campaign for Olay and ended up being featured on a massive billboard in New York City's Times Square. She recognized the impact of her inclusion, writing on Instagram, "As I see myself in Times Square on a gigantic billboard while other people from all places around the world pass by and see me, I think about my younger self passing by these exact streets and wondering if this day would ever come — to see someone who has visible disabilities and Latinx being represented in such a powerful way. I had to pave my own path, because I knew in my heart that we as a community, who have been invisible in pure sight, are capable of so much!"

Although much of her modeling work had been for print campaigns until that point, Mercado made her runway debut at New York Fashion Week in 2020. She appeared in The Blonds's fall 2020 runway show, marking the first time many people had ever seen someone in a wheelchair on a high-profile runway.

"Knowing that somewhere, someplace there's a younger me freaking the hell out that she sees herself on the runway [is mind-blowing]," she told Teen Vogue.

In 2019, Showtime premiered a "The L Word" sequel series called "The L Word: Generation Q." Mercado, who had not previously done any acting, was cast as Maribel, a queer Latinx immigration attorney.

"I didn't think that acting would be for me because I just didn't see any representation of people like me in film or TV," she told SELF. "And if there was representation, it was of the saddest, most depressing story around death. So I thought there was no place for someone like myself in the entertainment world."

Mercado's role as a disabled person in the series has been groundbreaking. It shows aspects of the character's life and personality that aren't centered around her disability, including her sex life.

"I think it will give people a reeducation of what a person with a disability looks like,"she told SELF. "It's 'The L Word,' so there's a lot of romance, and there's a lot of love. Unfortunately, a lot of people have this notion that people with disabilities don't have relationships, that we don't fall in love, and that we're not sexually active. I was able to play around with that aspect of the human experience."

Mercado is incredibly proud to represent the disabled community, especially as a person of color. "I want to live in a world where people who have disabilities feel like it's okay to do the career that they want to do, and not have to think about whether society doesn't want them to be a lawyer or doctor or astronaut just because they have a disability," she wrote on Instagram.

For many members of the disability community, Mercado's career is something they've been waiting to see their whole lives. "Once I kind of faced the reality of the lack of representation and inclusion there was of the disability community . . . that really kind of turned my whole world upside down," she told Advocate. "Because it wasn't about me chasing my dreams anymore and being in the fashion industry or entertainment industry. It was like my existence is a political statement . . . I have such an opportunity right now to really make real change within the industry."