Pereira was born in Malta but spent a lot of time living abroad in the UK and Canada, where she suffered a lot of bullying.

“I dealt with a lot of bullying in my childhood and youth since I looked different from all the other kids,” she expressed. 

“I started my physical activity as a child doing gymnastics. At the age of 10, I moved to the UK and I was diagnosed with a condition called hypochondroplasia which is a genetic disorder characterized by small stature,” she explained.

“I was not growing as much as I should have been. Doctors had told me that I must stop doing gymnastics because the flexibility of the sport can cause problems in the future. This included other sports which I had to avoid also.”

In the last three years, Pereira decided to get back into physical training by starting to frequent the gym, and managing to lose weight. 

“When I lost the weight I desired, I decided to hire a personal trainer from my gym to help me tone. I practised on squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, wall sits and pull-ups,” she said.

“Squats have become favourite ever since. I started with 50kg, progressed to 70kg, progressed into 90kg and now I am attempting 120kg.”

“I want this to be inspirational to anyone with a physical condition like mine that if you want to do something that might seem scary, you should still try going for it,” she urged. 

Prior to the training, Pereira was also experiencing pain in her ankles and lower back due to her condition, but she says that this has now massively improved.

Pereira finished off by thanking her personal trainer Stefan Subasic, for all his help throughout her truly inspirational fitness journey.

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