Lara Fernandéz is not new to the world of pageantry, or the Miss World Léon title. She was crowned Miss World L’eon in 2016 as well but found herself just short of a few steps from the crown of Miss World Spain 2016. Her impressive social work, however, did win her the prestigious beauty with a purpose award at the coronation night of Miss World Spain 2016.

"It's the best prize I could have. I am happy". She said after winning the said award. The Treacher Collins Syndrome Association that Lara supported, was selected among the twenty-five proposals presented in the contest for each of the candidates.

Now, Lara Fernandéz is back in the same role of the representative of Léon at the Miss World Spain 2018 stage, and her social project has also changed a bit. Lara informed her fans about her social project, Mental Illness, and why she chose it, through Facebook. She wrote;

‘Social project miss world León 2018: mental illness

My social project is about mental illness.

My goals? Give visibility to mental illness, reduce the social stigma surrounding it and open our minds and hearts to people living with these diseases.

(Courtesy Miss World Spain Instagram Official)

Throughout my year of reign, I will carry out different initiatives to raise awareness of the various types of mental illness and thereby reduce the negative social stigma that is generally given to people suffering from some disease Mental.

After all, we fear that which we do not know, and even if there is little mental health, it is a fact that is there, and that there are thousands of people suffering from some kind of mental illness and fighting day by day for a normal life, from depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenic disorders, boundary disorders... and we have in our power to make that fight a little easier, with knowledge, support, understanding and reception. They're not crazy, they're sick. And it's not weird, 19 % of the Spanish population is diagnosed with some kind of mental illness. And in the world, millions of people who have suffered, suffer or suffer. Mental illness does not understand ages, races or social classes.

To this end, I will collaborate especially with the association of disabled people (Aldis), who for almost 10 years are struggling to achieve the full social and labour integration of persons with disabilities due to severe and prolonged mental illness, through occupations Play and work primarily to improve the quality of life of these people and their families.

I firmly believe that the project you are going to defend has to deal with something that really fills me and moves me inside, speaking from experience and from the heart, that is the only way to pass it on to the rest of the world. That is why I choose this subject. For some time I have worked with people with mental illness, and from the minute one was the ones who taught me a lesson, the importance of health (and mental health), and of when we have it. They are an example of overcoming and hope.

I invite you to follow closely all these initiatives and to be in all those that you can, because as I have said many times, together is how we can change the world, and together we can make the invisible visible.’