NEW YORK - Posing in exactly the same way as the "Fearless Girl" bronze statue, a girl in a red-and-pink superhero outfit made for a picture-perfect moment on Wall Street on Wednesday.
Five-year-old Abrianna Tobar Almonte visited the new bronze statue on Wednesday, because she had the day off from school.
The statue was installed as a call to increase gender diversity in the boardroom ahead of International Women's Day, when women across the world took to the streets to march and strike in "A Day Without A Woman" events.
Abrianna's mother, Alexandra Almonte, asked her daughter to stand next to the statue for a picture.
"By the time I got my camera out, the news photographers were telling her what to do," Almonte said.
Amid the photo frenzy Abrianna caused, Almonte realized she didn't have a decent picture of her daughter with the statue. Before they left, she told Abrianna to "look at the statue and do what she's doing," prompting people to start photographing the 5-year-old again.
"I saw a young girl feeling so confident mirroring the statue and I felt this is everything that statue represented, and especially what the women's strike represents," said photographer Amanda Marmor.
While the symbolism of a little girl wearing red on International Women's Day is powerful, it wasn't a deliberate statement.
Abrianna loves to wear brightly colored costumes of cartoon characters and superheroes to play with her 8-year-old brother, who has autism. "It's her own way of connecting with him," Almonte said.
Almonte said it's hard to hold Abrianna's attention for a long time, but she tried to explain what the statue represents and what International Women's Day means.
"She asked why was the statue there, if she was a superhero like her and if she had any superpowers," Almonte said. "I told her [the statue's] superpower was representing all of us."
Even Almonte didn't quite understand why everyone took her daughter's photo, until they started popping out on social media.
"Now that I see the pictures I get it. It's a very powerful message," Almonte said.
