'America's Next Top Model' casts contestant with vitiligo

If you've missed the newest cycle of America's Next Top Model then chances are you haven't seen their newest, most non-traditional contestant of the season, Chantelle Brown-Young.

ANTM has been known to push the envelope within the modeling industry, airing a season for "short" models (all contestants were less than 5'7") and hosting a transgender contestant named Isis King. This cycle's standout contestant, Brown-Young, has vitiligo, an autoimmune condition defined by mayoclinic.org as, "a disease that causes the loss of skin color in blotches."

In an industry where homogenous forms of beauty monopolize society (read clear, fair skin, a thin build and Photoshopped perfection), Brown-Young's largely symmetrical lack of melanin framing her mouth, nose and eyes and dispersed throughout her body are in glaring opposition to traditional forms of American beauty.

Diagnosed with vitiligo when she was around five or six-years-old, Brown-Young, now 19, calls herself the "vitiligo spokesmodel" and gained social media popularity long before nailing down a spot on ANTM. Her Instagram has well over 100,000 followers and Brown-Young first used social media to speak out about her condition when she took to YouTube in a 2011 video titled "Vitiligo: A Skin Condition not a Life Changer."

Originally from Toronto, Brown-Young modeled prior to snagging the ANTM gig and has been featured in Elle Canada.