Emily is a rising high school junior who has been part of Special Olympics for 7 years. She participates in swimming, track and field and basketball, but her favorite part is the friends she’s made. Emily always has a smile on her face, and keeps her spirits high by everything from singing and dancing to watching funny cat videos.

Even though Special Olympics keeps her busy, Emily still finds time to participate in a special needs competitive cheer squad and her high school’s softball and swim teams. This happy athlete is also a lover of animals and cooking!

Emily’s words to live by:

“You can do anything. Be powerful.”

Along with #AerieREAL Role Models, Aly Raisman and Iskra, we were so excited to welcome Emily and 6 other Special Olympics athletes to our photo studio for a full day of #AerieREAL in honor of Global Week of Inclusion.

See more from Emily and our day celebrating Special Olympics athletes here.

Comments

  1. Lori L Johnson

    I absolutely love everything about this add! I think putting special needs kids with others will show "our" children everyone should be treated the same! This is coming from a woman who has a 59 yr old handicapped sister…when she was growing up they would have never done what you just did in that add!
    Honestly if I could have loved the post a million times, I would have, well done❤

  2. Maddie

    I have emailed you guys before about your amazing and beautiful models especially your plus size models and your models with disabilities. Most stores have skinny, tall, flawless models but that’s not realistic and I love that you guys mix up your models. That is one of the big reasons that I buy from you. My cousin has Down syndrome and idk what I would do without her. I also am thinking about going to school to become a counselor for people with autism. So these models hit close to home. I wish you all the best. You’re all so beautiful!!💕

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