100 Women We Love 2016

Here’s to this year's class of the women who inspire us, give us hope, make us laugh and make us want to get up and dance. 

MARCIA ALVARADO

Marcia Alvarado, though stunning, does not fit the profile of your typical model. The mas-culine-presenting fashion plate is an licensed structural engineer who has mentored high school students in architecture, construction and engineering. She was also a NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) scholarship basketball player for four years—enjoying a trip to NCAA March Madness over the 2000-2001 season—and has been listed in the Top 40 Under 40 by Building Design + Construction, a trade publication and website for the American architecture, engineering and construction industries. “My success in this business [engineering] has been led by the relationships that I have cultivated; essen-tially, the work speaks for itself,” she explains. As a “male model,” Alvarado has gone to New York Fashion Week two years in a row; been featured at many central Florida runway events; and has been a representative for Project Runway All-Stars Fabio Costa and Fade Zu Grau, suits and dresswear company Sharpe Suiting, style site dapperQ, and oth-ers. “I hope to use modeling as a platform to promote understanding that each individual is unique in their own way,” she says. “We all matter, and we are all connected.” –GH


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