Behind the scenes with Junior, star of this year’s Found Family campaign

This Pride season at Primark we are celebrating found families everywhere and the importance that found families can play in the lives of the LGBTQI+ community. A found family is a term that is used to describe a group of people who have chosen to embrace, support, respect, and love each other, despite their differences.

Our Found Family campaign features four real families who, through campaign imagery and video they have captured themselves, take us behind the scenes to showcase the role that their found family has played in their life.

One of the found families is a group of four friends from the UK - Junior, Wilder, Nan and Kamahl. We sat down with Junior to hear their story…

1. What does Found Family mean to you?

If you were to ask me what a found family is I would say that it is finding the people you’re supposed to be with in life. It is about accepting who you are deep within your heart and discovering the love that you deserve and need to be the beautiful person that you know you can be. It’s a journey of discovering love in a new way and realising that you can love in a million more ways than you ever realised was possible.

I have realised that pieces of different puzzles can still fit together to create a picture. Even if to others that picture does not look right, to that found family it could be the most beautiful picture in the world. That is what's most important.

2. Why is it important for you to be involved Primark’s campaign?

I am very proud to be featured in this year’s campaign for Primark, especially alongside my found family. This gave us the opportunity to work together on this project and highlight each person’s beauty. By doing this as a group we were able to show our individual personalities whilst showcasing our connection with each other.

We have the beauty of knowing how different our hearts are, whilst also being given the opportunity to showcase our love to the world. We are so proud to be who we are and if we are able to show that pride to even one person who feels lost, it could help them to find the family that they deserve. Everybody deserves to feel loved and to see love.

3. Why do you think it is important that brands like Primark support Pride and work with members of the community?

When big brands like Primark show representation of everyday people to everyday people, it can be very powerful. Many people who go shopping every day are part of the LGBTQI+ community or they may have physical or hidden disabilities like me. They want to see brands acknowledge that they’re aware of who their customers are and show that they are welcome in that space. Without representation, it's hard to know if that space is for you. As a wheelchair user, when I see a model in a wheelchair it makes me feel seen and makes me want to be involved. It makes me think ‘Wow, there must be so much thought behind this brand representing people like me’. It fills me with joy.

4. Do you have a favourite product in the range?

I have two favourites! I love the all-black ‘Proud’ slogan t-shirt, as this is something I could wear with pretty much any outfit all year round and people will notice it. If someone does notice and is paying attention to me, we can make it a positive experience and most likely add a little sunshine to each other’s days.

The other product is the sweater with all different characters on the front - It has such a diverse range of people that I think most people will see someone who represents them. And that is so incredibly important. We are just one big community who want to support one another and feel seen one. No matter your race, religion, or background. You are loved.

5. How will you be celebrating Pride this year?

This year for Pride I will be celebrating in Brighton! Pride luckily falls on my birthday every single year so I will be feeling loved and safe, sharing the love, and maybe finding that person who is a little lost who could join our little found family. Pride is a safe space for all those who feel hidden to shine that bit brighter and I am so excited to be able to shine a little more each day.

6. To anyone who reads this, what’s the one thing you want them to takeaway about this campaign?

I would like for people to take away just two small things from this campaign: acceptance and understanding. That’s it. Accept who you are as a person, accept your neighbours, accept the person walking down the street. You never know what kind of love they have in their heart - it might not be the same as yours but there’s always someone out there who can understand it. Understand that people are diverse and that is ok.