When you are nobody, when you know no one, when you have to start your life over—especially in a brand-new world—hills turn into mountains, and rejection feels like a thousand blades piercing your heart.

My body is covered in the scars of life.
My soul is saturated with moments of despair.
But faith in myself? That, I have never lacked.

These backstage photos from the Christian Dior show at Paris Fashion Week date back to September 2009. A lifetime ago. It was only the second time I had been invited to shoot behind the scenes. I was as proud as I was grateful. At that point, I had been photographing for barely two years. I wasn’t making any money, and my camera was probably the worst among all the photographers there. But some people in the fashion world believed in my work and wanted to help me. I had a deep passion for people and knew how to tell stories through my photos. I will never thank them enough.

Faith, to exist and sustain itself, needs one essential ingredient: your talent. And talent, in turn, requires its own key ingredient: relentless hard work and persistence. If God exists, He didn’t hand me a silver spoon. Instead, He gave me something far more valuable: the desire to grow—both as a person and as a professional—and the courage to reinvent myself. That is what I wish for you, too.