Long Beach artist inspires others through music despite autoimmune disorder
Mylen Walker released his own clothing line and music to encourage others to be comfortable in their skin.
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- At 26 years old, Mylen Walker is using his creativity as a platform to inspire others while battling a skin condition known as vitiligo.
"I first developed vitiligo, which is an autoimmune disease that attacks the skin cells that produce melanin in my skin. I have it on the right side of my face. I got it when I was 13 years old," Walker said.
Walker said he wore makeup every day for five years straight, dealing with anxiety and depression. Until he had a pivotal moment in college where he decided to embrace his unique look.
"At first, I thought it was a curse. But at the end of the day, it really turned into a blessing because it made me who I am today," Walker said.
The Long Beach resident created his own clothing brand called Nobody's Perfect, which encourages others to be comfortable in their skin.
"The main reason for that was to make sure that nobody felt how I felt during my darkest days. You know, having no support, having no one to talk to," Walker said.
He then ventured into making music to inspire others and released his first song called Psyche under the name Mylen Makes, the first of many songs he released with his creative group on Apple Music and Spotify.
"It's cool to be able to be the person to help bring to life, you know, like, what he went through ... being able to, you know, be the other half of bringing that vision to life," said Austin Ambrose, music producer and audio engineer.
"Everyone's an artist, but Mylen is not about trying to be like everybody else. He's trying to be more of himself," said creative director John Liwag.
Walker said this is just the beginning stage of his career and he hopes to continue making music and inspiring people.
"There is nothing that a negative person can say to me that I haven't said to myself already. I just want to give back as much as possible. I never want anyone to feel how I felt when I was at my lowest. So I want to do that with music," Walker said.
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