Diana Veras isn’t here to check a box. Sure, you may have seen the model’s face lighting up Times Square as part of an inclusive Aerie campaign that featured diverse body sizes. Or you may have witnessed the now 25-year old outwitting Twitter trolls after being body shamed on the platform for posting swimsuit pics. But for Veras, advocating for representation is more instinctive than anything. “I wouldn’t use the term ‘body positivity activist’ to describe myself because I am just existing in my body,” she says. “This is who I am, if that inspires people, then I am grateful for it, but advocating for fair treatment isn’t activism — is just being a decent human being.”
We caught up with the New York-based multi-hyphenate (who also writes and studies psychology in college) while on hiatus in her native Dominican Republic to glean her secrets to sidestepping hustle culture, the game-changing makeup tricks she learned on TikTok, and winning at social media—even if it’s meant deleting the apps from her phone.