Model

I love blocking people. I'm not afraid to block anybody.

As women gain weight, they start judging themselves. But who cares! Embrace what you have. Say, 'Belly, you might be poking out today, but I'm going to choose to love you and nurture you.'

I'm being my real raw self, and that's what I always preach anyway. What you see is what you get.

Back in Nebraska, I was known as the fat model - the girl who was pretty for a big girl. My body, like my confidence, has been picked apart, manipulated, and controlled by others who didn't necessarily understand it.

Social media has truly helped my career because it has given models a voice. And a voice is something that we want to see a change in the industry.

The sum total of what I learned about African American culture in school was Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Underground Railroad. This was more than my mom knew; she didn't even see a black person in real life until she was 18 years old.

I have been so blessed not only to talk about things that I want to talk about in my industry, but also to have a platform - and people want to hear about it.

People want to know that there's someone else out there that looks like them.

I've always been a girl's girl, and I've always enjoyed my girl friends' relationships, so I want the girls who follow me to feel like we're besties.

When you're given an 'SI' cover, and you take advantage of it, you can conquer the world. Look at Chrissy Teigen. Look at Tyra Banks. Look at Kathy Ireland.

Curvy girls can pull off any look - it's what we do.

It doesn't matter what size your hips are when you measure them. It's about, 'Do you feel good and healthy in those hips?'

I want to be a better parent than I had. Even though my mom was absolutely amazing. Her and I are still best friends to this day. I think that the next generation should always be better and better.

I'm giving curvy women a seat at a table that we've never been invited to before - a table with high-end fashion people who have never considered us beautiful.

I started dating at 16.

I dated all the wrong men. I thought I could feel appreciated in my body through guys.

My father was a master of the cutting insult.

I believe that we're all here for a purpose and that one of my biggest ones is to help people understand that they're beautiful.

I used to be bound by people who placed limits on what they thought I could do. Through that, I learned that if you want something, you have to be the one to go out and do it. If you don't ask for something, you're not going to get it.

One thing my mother did is that she never looked in the mirror and said, 'I'm so fat,'or 'I'm so ugly. I need to go on a diet.' Projecting that onto yourself is only going to make your daughter or son think that of themselves. Because they're a product of you.