When she was 19-years-old, Monica Singh was attacked by a group of men while sitting in her car in Lucknow, India. The men threw a bucket of acid on her face, which instantly burned 65% of her body. According to The New York Times, "the attack was orchestrated by a man who had proposed to Singh, but didn’t get the answer he wanted."

But even after 40 reconstructive surgeries, Singh never let her attackers take her dreams, particularly her goal of pursuing a career in fashion. Now, at 28, that dream has been realized -- she's currently living in New York City, studying fashion marketing at Parsons School of Design and designing clothes.

Singh told The New York Times about her passion for fashion and how it's helped her heal: "What dresses you need, when you have a full-on scarred body, what you can wear...just to conceal your weakness and make again the strongest statement through the help of fashion."

In addition to studying fashion, Singh has also created her own foundation, The Mahendra Singh Foundation, to offer support to other acid attack survivors.

"If my hands are working, my legs are working, I can keep doing what I want to do," she said.