A woman who calls herself a “millionaire Barbie” has revealed the struggles she’s faced to become successful.
Marcela Iglesias, in her 40s, is an Argentinian American self-made entrepreneur, singer and self-proclaimed “Queen of Hollywood”.
While she lives a life of luxury now, her empire was derived from grit, glamour and decades of hard work.
Marcela moved to America when she was 20 years old with only £2,400 to her name.
She says the first few years were incredibly hard as she didn’t have the papers to work legally in the United States.
“I started working in restaurants and stuff like that but it took me 10 years to get my permits to be in America as a regular resident which was very, very hard,” she told Daily Star.
“For 14 years I couldn’t get out of this country because I was waiting for my permanent green card. So I made a lot of sacrifices to be in the United States of America. I did everything on my own, I didn’t ask anybody to marry me for papers.
“My first husband was in the same situation as I was when we married. When you’re so young, you think that everything’s going to work perfectly.
“I married him because I become pregnant and my son was born when I was 23 years old. What did I know about kids? Nothing, so, it was rough.”
Working three jobs and being the sole breadwinner for her family, she knew she was destined for something bigger and began to work towards being the self-made woman she is today.
She is now the founder and CEO of the talent management and lifestyle brand The Plastics of Hollywood, while simultaneously pursuing her real estate investment interests.
But it took her years, as well as a variety of sacrifices, to get here.
When Marcela finally got her papers she decided to start her own mobile spray tanning company and was one of the first people in Los Angeles to be offering such a service.
The business began to boom – and she even worked with famous faces including Playboy Bunnies.
The “do-it-all Barbie” seems to have a hand in every cookie jar in Hollywood and sнows no signs of letting go – at one point she even had her own reality TV Show.
The show focused on an agency she runs where she manages the budding celebs that have been dubbed plastic surgery addicts.
Plastics of Hollywood followed the most plastic people on the planet who have spent close to £2.5million on surgeries and procedures.
It featured 12 human dolls including Ken Dolls Rodrigo Alves and Justin Jedlica, Jessica Rabbit imitator Pixee Fox, Kim Kardashian wannabe Jennifer Pamplona and alien lookalike Vinny Ohh.
She said: “I did a casting call all around the world for the most eccentric modified people in the world. We asked them about why they became plastic, what was the obsession about and the story behind every person.
“It was shocking how it got viral into the media but it was a blessing in disguise. Some people supported me and some people didn’t me giving a positive look into the plastic surgery world.
“But that was what I thought at that time, I thought we have to tell the story of why these people did what they did. And at that moment, the surgery world was still a little bit taboo.
“People were not opening very, are not all talking very openly about all the surgeries that they have done. So basically, we become viral because we start talking about everything and the surgeries that the plastics did.”
Marcela has always had a fascination with the transformative power of plastic surgery.
She has been very open about cosmetic enhancement and aims to end the stigmas placed for going against the societal grain.
Marcela previously made headlines for her over-the-top cosmetic treatments and is the world’s first person to receive a spider web abs enhancement procedure.
The mum has also been referred to as Human Barbie after spending £60,000 on cosmetic procedures – including a boob job inspired by Pamela Anderson.
Her enhanced looks have worked to her advantage on OnlyFans, which she joined with the encouragement of her husband