Hello, Harnaam Kaur

This 'bearded lady'— and Cosmo's digital cover star—is on an important mission: to challenge societal perceptions and help women love and embrace their bodies, as they are. In conversation with Cosmo Ed Nandini Bhalla, Harnaam talks about her journey and how she finally found her true purpose... Creative Direction: Zunaili Malik

- Zunaili Malik

The first thing people notice about Harnaam Kaur is her beard—dark, glossy, and framed by a vivid turban and perfectly-exaggerated winged liner. But that's not the most striking thing about this 29-year-old model, anti-bullying activist, and motivational speaker. No, what makes Harnaam truly extraordinary is her most compelling asset—a lion-heart, beating inside the body of a compassionate, sensitive woman.

Harnaam, a British woman of Indian descent, hit puberty at the age of 10, and was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) at 12, which caused her to develop thick facial hair. PCOS is a fairly common condition, a hormonal imbalance that causes weight gain, excessive hair growth, and irregular periods.

Harnaam waxed and shaved and bleached her hair several times a week, to a point where her skin would turn painfully raw, but the hair continued to spread. The schoolyard bullies taunted her, calling her shemale and beast and sheman; they kicked me with footballs and stabbed me with pens. Harnaam began skipping school and refused to go out, for fear of being shamed and stared at. The trauma drove the young girl to depression, self-harm, and constant thoughts of killing herself. Until Harnaam decided she was done. She would not allow her haters to win...and she would accept her body—and beard—just the way it was.

As Harnaam shares her story with me, over a Skype call, I want to reach out and hug her. Not just because of the bullying and shaming and violence and death threats she has had to endure (the death threats continue, by the way)...but because she chose to rise above the ridicule and scorn, and has emerged as a passionate disrupter of mainstream beauty standards.