Looking out her classroom window in Mexico, Alma Ordonez saw older kids dancing and knew she wanted to be a performer. When her mom found her dancing at home, she told Ordonez she was going to put her in every dance performance in school.
"I really thank my mom for supporting me and putting me in that place, because I don't care about what everybody says, I’m going do what I like,” she says. “There are so many of us that are really afraid or shy.”
When Ordonez says “us,” she’s referring to another community she is a part of, the little people community. Ordonez is 4’2 and 36 years old, but she has not let that slow her down. She didn’t realize she was different until third grade of elementary school.
“They put us in line, shortest in the front and taller in the back, so all the time I was in the front,” Ordonez says. “I started to notice all my classmates were getting taller and I was like, ‘Whoa what’s going on here?’”
The kids she grew up with asked questions here and there but never made a big deal about it because they knew her for her. Dating on the other hand was a different story.
“People don’t see with the eyes of their heart, unfortunately,” Ordonez says. They see what you look like on the outside.” Online dating is not for her, she says because it’s hard to tell if the men are looking for a relationship or if they are just looking to date a little person.
Ordonez says the messages and comments she gets on all her social media pages are crazy and filled with people telling her about their fetish for little people.
Ordonez says her comments and direct messages are filled with men talking about having a “fantasy with a little person.”
She doesn’t take these comments seriously because it is something she’s gotten used to over the years in her work in the entertainment industry.
After high school, Ordonez started performing in nightclubs as go-go dancer. From there, she started working with “Lucha VaVoom,” a wrestling show, as a ring girl, then doing commercials and reality shows.
“Thank God I’m not embarrassed to do anything,” she says with a laugh. “I’ve done Jack in the Box commercials, ‘Little Women L.A.’, I’ve been a leprechaun, and I’ve also jumped out of cakes for celebrities’ birthdays.”
Ordonez takes that last job very seriously. She’s performed for celebrities such as Akon and Tyrese Gibson. Most of the time she doesn’t even know the name of the guest of honor until the next day. “I pop out of the cake, I dance, then I have to go.”
Ordonez has known “Little Women: L.A.” cast member Terra Odmark for a number of years; they both worked at the same nightclub. “One day she called me and was like ‘Hey you want to be on some episodes?’ and I said yes,” she says.
After the episode aired Ordonez went shopping and the ladies at the store recognized her from the show. “They started saying, ‘Oh my god it’s her from the show,’” she says. “It’s a really good feeling when people recognize you.”
She continues, “That’s my magic work. I have a regular job, but when I enter that world, it’s like my fantasy world and it’s amazing.”
With all of the work she’s done, she says it makes her even more guarded with her dating life.
“You have to pass a lot before people get to know the inside of me instead of the outside of me,” Ordonez says. “They see what I look like, what I do, then they wonder how much money I have.”
Talking with people is easy for her, but going out on dates is a different story because of the looks she gets from other people.
"Sometimes when I’m dating somebody we could be at the bar or something and they will be embarrassed to even grab my hand because people will think, ‘Oh, that’s his daughter, or that’s his little cousin,’ and those thoughts affect me a lot,” she says.
Ordonez knows people will always notice her height first, but she hopes that people will just treat her like a normal human being. “Our hearts are sensitive, we are human, we’re not machines,” she says.
The easiest thing for people to do, she says, is think about how they would feel if somebody said hurtful things to them. “Before you judge somebody or talk about them, give yourself a chance to see the beauty inside of the person."
She hopes one day she’ll find someone who will love her for her and not because of her size or fame. Until then, Ordonez will continue to live her life to the fullest and keep on doing what she loves: performing.