Tess Holliday

People laugh in my face sometimes if they don't know who I am. When they find out that I model they're like, 'well what do you model?'

I have created a life for myself that I only thought was literally a dream.

I can never celebrate a success in my career without it being picked apart because of my size or 'my health.'

None of us have it all together; it just seems that way on Instagram.

Designers still won't dress me, and if they do, they will send a dress that doesn't fit me because it's the only sample that they have in their office that we can get to in time, and then it's hard because I don't want to support certain brands that I don't feel like are diverse in their messaging.

I have to wear Eloquii to red carpet events where my friends are wearing custom Versace.

When I describe myself as fat to people, whether it's a driver, anywhere around the world, or a friend, and I'm like, 'Oh, it's just because I'm fat,' people are like, 'Don't say that about yourself.'

Obviously there aren't many opportunities for someone who looks like me to walk in fashion shows. It's incredibly frustrating.

I'll wear a crop top if I'm not loving my stomach because it kind of forces me to pay attention to it and to love it, really.

If I have the opportunity, a massage or facial is a great way to take a little 'me time.'

I firmly believe that a big part of the obsession with women's thinness comes from the same place as male power fantasies.

The societal obsession with appearance is definitely something that weighs on your mind as a model.

I was angry and sad that people kept commenting on my pictures saying, 'You're too fat to wear that!' or 'Cover up! No one wants to see that!'

What shaped my perception about my body and myself was finding better clothes - that's what changed my world.

I can live my life, I can be at Disneyland and eat fried chicken, and that's my choice.

In the beginning I used to say, 'I'm healthy, my cholesterol's fine, I don't have high blood pressure, I don't have diabetes.' By telling people that you see a doctor, and telling people that you're healthy, it's perpetuating the abuse against bigger bodies and the mindset that we owe it to people to be healthy.

I'd like to be the person who changes things, or at least open doors for others.

It's hard enough to break into my industry when you're my height and my size but adding the tattoos on top of it, there's not many clients that will hire you if you have Miss Piggy tattooed on your arm.

For so long advertising hasn't been inclusive when it comes to plus sizes which is crazy to me.

I would really love to work with major photographers who haven't featured plus-size models before.