Modeler Anisha Sando highlights the importance of mental health care

Anisha Sando's plans for the model could have been a shaky start, although explored by the elite of Toronto, Sando's parents were not ready for their daughter to enter a career and had to retreat. Almost a year later, Sandhu was unwilling to abandon this dream and returned to her mother's agency to make up for the lost opportunity. Finally, her books have been shipped overseas, and now Anisha Sandhu is represented by Elite Worldwide and The Society, representing big names like Adut Akech, Bhumika Arora, Kendall Jenner and more. Vogue spoke to growing talent about the therapeutic powers of cooking, giving her voice for important reasons and protecting mental health in a very competitive industry.

I grew up, have you seen yourself becoming a model? How did you come to this race?

I definitely did not see myself as a growing model because I was shy and insecure. With age and experience these feelings of insecurity have changed, of course, but they have not disappeared completely. When I look back, my fashion show career has so far happened without much intention at first. I always thought, well, sometimes this will fade, but it still doesn't exist.

By the time I started, I was in college studying art history with the goal of becoming curator. I had some experience as a model for amateurs at school, but I never thought it would be possible to make a career out of it. After signing with the parent agency and working part-time in Canada, I graduated from university.

When I fell in with the community in New York and Elite Worldwide in Europe, it was when I realized that this was something I had devoted all my time, effort and energy to. When I moved to New York full time, I proved all the hard work that I had done in my career in the past few years that I had not realized during my work. I am always grateful for how my career has evolved so far, for the projects that I have been able to work on and for the people I have met, and I cannot wait to move on.

What are your biggest challenges as a model?

Frankly, my biggest challenge as a model was keeping my mental health afloat. With diets, training plans, rigorous measurements and constant comparison with other models, an educational curve has been great for me so I can't get away from it all. Sometimes I allow myself to go, which I still recover from today. What helped me most is reminding myself that my body is not what I deserve and that I am more than just a model. It can be difficult to remember those things when your job depended on them. However, I have learned that it is not sustainable to maintain such a strict lifestyle and let your life be dictated by what others say and think of you.

Sure, I have times when I suffer from time to time, but I was not in a better place than I was now. If I hadn't had difficult times in the past, I wouldn't have learned what I know now and what works for me.

What is the largest learning I learned in this field?

My biggest tutorial under this lock is how stone is an extreme privilege that not everyone has, and I am so grateful that I can do it. Many key workers cannot stay at home and not go to work, even if they want to, and most are women, migrants, and people of color.

The basic workers are very appreciated and respected, but it is unfortunate that there was no same situation before the epidemic. I realize that while I am honored to have this time as a period of self-reflection and recovery, it is a completely different reality for those who still go to work while trying to pay rent and feed their families.