Wait...this just happened! My first magazine cover is Women's Running Magazine. I can't even believe it's real but thankfully is, for so many reasons. I've been working incredibly hard for five years to feel like I have sort of accomplished something since I can be my own worst critic at times. I always feel unaccomplished, mainly because I want to achieve so much in my time here. The magazine is definitely a milestone in my career. I've had such a huge outpour of support and I couldn't thank you guys enough. There's always this issue that people assume you live an unhealthy lifestyle based solely off of your size. Throughout the years of me blogging and putting myself out there for people to see and hopefully try to shift this society that thinks only one type of beautiful is beautiful, there were people along the way criticizing saying myself and other bloggers promoted an unhealthy lifestyle based on how we looked. Regardless of what people say, this magazine cover is important. It's important because in the media and industry, a lot of women don't have something they can relate to. The more diversity there is in main stream media, on TV, on and in magazines, the more normal it will be to see all women as beautiful and considered "normal" by societies eyes. People have different opinions. For instance when we speak about the term plus size, I don't necessarily use the term “plus size” because it creates a binary where one type of body is considered “normal” or “standard,” and anyone who is bigger than that is considered not normal.
The separation between straight and plus size can leave some women feeling outcasted from society even more than they already are because they look at the women on the front of magazines or modeling in campaigns and say this woman doesn't resemble my current body, or they say "I can't relate to this." They want to feel like that could be them without being considered as different. Especially when the only section in clothing stores they have are in the far back near the clearance rack. In my ideal world, there wouldn't be a separate section, there would just be larger sizes in everything the "straight" size clothes came in. On the other end, the term plus size can empower someone and make them feel like they're a part of something rather than feel excluded. Labels differ between everyone. Some people can feel frustrated with labels and some people can feel a sense of belonging. It really depends on the individual. The main point I'm getting across here is no matter what you call or label it, we need diversity in main stream media. Not only with body type but ethnicities as well. It needs to be normal and not shocking to see different body types every where in main stream. We see them daily on the streets, why can't we see them in this industry? I hope this April issue helps you with whatever you struggle with about yourself. Focus on your inner strength. Check out some of the articles that featured the cover or I interviewed with.
Cosmopolitan Magazine
Teen Vogue
People Magazine
Daily Mail
SHOT BY ALAIN MITCHELL
