She wanted to destroy my looks': Brave acid attack victim Naomi Oni reveals why she won't stop posting selfies

  Naomi Oni takes selfies and posts them on Instagram and Facebook, enjoying the “likes” she gets.

Now, it just takes a little more courage than it did five years ago.

Back then, she did not think twice about posting images of her smooth, glowing skin and perfect cheekbones.
But then jealous friend Mary Konye followed Naomi home to Dagenham, Essex, from her job at a Victoria’s Secret store in South East London.

Disguised in a Muslim veil, she threw acid in her face, obliterating her selfie-ready looks.
 She recalls Konye sneering: “The only good thing about her is her looks.”

Naomi says: “She wanted to destroy how I looked. It was the ultimate thing she could do.
"In this age of social media, where physical appearance is the most important thing to us, a lot of people would not be able to handle this. Even to young men, appearance is a big deal.

“People get famous because of how they look, go viral because of how they look, get a reality show because of how they look."People think if they look a certain way, it gains a certain type of success. Someone who does this to someone knows they will struggle the rest of their life.”

And there are emotional scars. Naomi, who has depression, anxiety and PTSD, says:

“It was a near-death experience and having to deal with your appearance changing, your quality of life changing. I didn’t feel there was much for me.”

Naomi adds that she has been single since the attack and still struggles to work.

“I went back to Victoria’s Secret for a couple of months and I ended up working in the stock room,” she says.
“I didn’t feel confident on the shop floor because I was still insecure about my appearance.”

She re-trained as a make-up technician but says she keeps being rejected for jobs, adding: “No one wants to tell you because of your appearance it could be difficult to get a job in the industry.”

Before the attack

That Naomi has chosen a looks-based profession is testimony to her courage.She says she quickly began posting selfies again and refuses to let her
injuries exclude her from social media.

“There are low times but I am trying to get on with it,” she says.
“I realised I had to stop feeling sorry for myself, I have got to a stage where I have got to know myself and I love the person that I am.
“Someone tried to tarnish my physical image but I’m healing, I am trying to move on."I was determined to get back on social media. Posting selfies was ­liberating. It was reaffirming to get the comments and likes."I do it to inspire people and show no matter what people are going through, they can overcome.”

Culled from Daily Mirror