BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA. Jack Santamaria / mediadrumworld.com

By Rebecca Drew

MEET the stunning young woman who is being her ‘own superhero’ after cruel bullies left her feeling insecure by calling her a gorilla and mocking the thirty-two-and-a-half-inch hairy birthmark that spreads down her arm and hand.

Musician, Libny Molano (24), from Bogotá, Colombia has more than 200-birthmarks all over her body but the most prominent is on her arm. Thanks to her parents’ explaining what her birthmarks were at the age of two, Libny never saw them as a problem.

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA. Jack Santamaria / mediadrumworld.com

It wasn’t until she reached school age that Libny noticed the cruel reactions of other children who would call her a Dalmatian, a gorilla and would even say she had the hand of the devil. This made her feel ashamed and afraid but she got fed up of feeling so low and instead decided to become the best version of herself.

“Since the first day of my life I’ve been handling people’s reactions but I never really noticed them because I was protected by my parents 24/7 until I started school,” she said.

“Children have the most honest and at the same time cruel reactions in the world, so that changed me.

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA. Jack Santamaria / mediadrumworld.com

“I noticed they were afraid of me and they didn’t want to spend time with me and they called me a Dalmatian and said I was a gorilla and some of them told me I had the hand of the devil.

“This was extremely painful and confusing because at home they always told me I was unique, and after that I started noticing everyone’s reaction everywhere I went and that made me feel sad, ashamed, afraid and insecure.

“I got tired of feeling sad and insecure and I decided to become the best version of myself and be my own superhero.”

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA. Jack Santamaria / mediadrumworld.com

Libny’s family are proud of her new-found confidence and she hopes that others can embrace what makes them unique.

“My friends and family love that I now see what they’ve always seen and they feel so proud of me,” she added.

“My advice is to embrace whatever makes you different and make it your best feature, we all have our own ‘birthmarks’ and that’s what makes us who we are.

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA. Jack Santamaria / mediadrumworld.com

“The message I want to convey is that we are all masterpieces, made perfectly by a great painter, and we shouldn’t see ourselves as anything less than that.

“We’re all a ‘Mona Lisa’ perfect and unique in our own way.”

For more information see www.instagram.com/libmolano

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA. Jack Santamaria / mediadrumworld.com