So we’ve had a major crush on Tess for the longest time. Following her daily adventures is one of our favourite pastimes and we’re just head over heels for her exceptional fashion sense! Tess Holliday is a plus-size model, makeup artist, body positive activist, and a blogger! She worked incredibly hard at turning her hobbies into a successful career that we just call her Superwoman.
Yes, these titles are impressive and all, but let’s dig deep into why we truly admire this Superwoman. Here are 4 reasons why we love her:
1. She sincerely thrives on inspiring and empowering women:
First of all she is THE FOUNDER of the #effyourbeautystandards movement which encourages women to celebrate their bodies as they are. Tess launched it because she was so fed up of the one-fit-for-all approach to beauty and because this message resonated with so many people, there are already close to 100,000 photo shares on social media with this hashtag.
She receives letters and emails from different women every day thanking her for empowering them to love their bodies, and to not be ashamed. It is now the features that Tess was bullied about in her youth, that she says she now embraces, and encourages other women to embrace within themselves. Tess hopes that girls who are bullied, and women who lack confidence will begin to see their inner and outer beauty at whatever size (tessmusnter.com).
“Surround yourself with positive, like-minded people who support you. It’s crucial to your happiness and well-being. Never compare yourself to others and celebrate what makes you, YOU.”
2. This superwoman is beyond determined to achieve her goals, regardless of everyone holding her back:
She was actually forced to drop out of school at 17 years old because of relentless bullying on her physical appearance – for being too big, fair-skinned, short. She was rejected from casting calls for the very same reasons.
However, this did not discourage her from pursuing the things she loved to do. She turned to Make-Up Artistry because she was inspired to show the world that makeup could truly “transform” someone inside and out. This passion progressed her to land jobs as head makeup artist, hair stylist, and creative director for numerous fashion shows.
In the meantime, she blogged about her life, her daily looks, and an increasing amount of followers fell in love with her personality. She became a professional full time model and appeared in nationwide print ads…to just recently becoming the first ever plus size model of her size (22) and height (5’5’’) to be signed to a major mainstream agency. Can we take a moment to acknowledge that she beat a WORLD RECORD!?
3. Tess is an open book:
Just yesterday Tess posted the following caption on her Instagram photo. It takes a lot of courage for anyone in the public eye to be open about even remotely feeling under the weather. Many people expect them to maintain confidence and composure at all times because we’re supposed to idealize their strengths. The reality check is that role models are human too and they have reached such level of respect because they show us how to bounce back up after falling.
She is not afraid to directly address the negative critics:
“Everybody deserves to be happy, but for some reason the fact that I happen to be plus-size and happy seems to bother people,” she said. “It’s odd really.
4. She has an incredibly contagious sense of humour:
…In which her posts make us smile to ourselves in public while browsing on our phones, and those moments where she makes us literally laugh out loud.
Oh Tess, thank you for giving us the courage to be proud of who we are – size, height, personality, and all!
Image sources: instagram.com/tessholliday
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