Pageants aren’t known for being the most diverse places – but it looks like that might slowly start to be changing, with Spanish model Andrea Ponce becoming the first transgender woman to compete in Miss Universe.

Speaking to TIME, Ponce said she was showing that “trans women can be whatever they want to be: a teacher, a mother, a doctor, a politician and even Miss Universe.”

She also had a message for Donald Trump, who owned the pageant until 2015.

“More than a message to him, it would be a win for human rights. Trans women have been persecuted and erased for so long. If they give me the crown, it would show trans women are just as much women as cis women.”

“I like to think that most people who don’t understand me, it’s not because they’re bad people. It’s because no one taught them about diversity. What you don’t talk about doesn’t exist—even though trans people have been here since there were people on earth.”

Women Making Waves is part of Stylist’s Visible Women campaign to raise awareness of women who’ve made a difference to society. See more Visible Women stories here.

From an all-black female rowing team to a sexual assault activist: the women making waves this week