Model says she's been judged by employers for being too attractive

An Australian influencer and beauty queen has opened up about how she has been judged by society - including the workplace - essentially for being too attractive.

Maria Thattil, a 27-year-old fashion blogger from Melbourne was crowned this year's Miss Universe Australia in October.

The beauty currently has a growing following of 65.9k users on her Instagram page.

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While Maria, as an influencer, spends time posting striking photos to her flourishing Instagram account, she also has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in Human Resources, per news.com.au.

She even works for the government in talent acquisition.

In an interview with news.com.au, Maria said the experiences she has made due to her appearance were "gut-wrenching".

"I remember starting my career in recruitment while I was finishing my masters in HR and very often I was told things based on how I looked," Maria said.

"I was told even in my internship, very early just starting my career, you need to be extra nice to people because you’re pretty, therefore they’re going to assume you’re stuck up," she added. "It was from a female senior actually and it was very disheartening."

The Miss Universe Austalia winner also recalled a male manager commenting on the amount of makeup she wore.

Furthermore, she says she was told by a recruiter that she had probably only been accepted for a job opening because her male employers found her attractive. This is despite the fact that she had her interview for the role with two women over the phone.

The Australian-born model spoke about her Indian heritage, revealing that her appearance wasn't always perceived the way it is now.

Maria says these days, her looks fit our society's beauty standards, but she has experienced prejudice due to her ethnic background in the past.

For now, though, she does acknowledge she has certain "privileges" because her physical appearance reflects what is considered "ideal".

However, she continues to speak out because she didn't "always meet the threshold for what it is to be successful, beautiful, worth or valuable."