This model is taking over the world while speaking out about body acceptance.
Sports Illustrated‘s swimsuit edition has been known for skinny, busty models gracing their covers, but that has changed. Ashley Graham, a 29-year-old model from Nebraska, was recently chosen as a cover model for the magazine along with Ronda Rousey and Hailey Clausen. The diversity of body types in this year’s issue is something new and bold for the magazine, but it emphasizes that women of all sizes are beautiful.
The size 16 model has been in the industry for fifteen years, and this is not her first time being within the glossy pages of Sports Illustrated Swim. In the 2015 edition, Ashley Graham caught people’s attention when she had a feature ad for Swimsuits for All, and she garnered large amounts of positive feedback from the ad for the body positive company.
She has also appeared in her own Ted Talk, entitled “Plus-Size? More Like My Size,” where she speaks up about the societal flaws that lead to public shaming against different body types—from size zero to size twenty and up. Due to her public figure, she was also named one of this year’s Forbes’ 30 under 30, which is a list of the most influential and powerful young adults.
Graham is also an entrepreneur, for she created and designed her own lingerie line. Her goal as a model, activist and entrepreneur is to create a body positive environment where all men and women are comfortable in their own skin, and to destroy society’s idea of a “perfect body”.
Although she has been in the modeling industry since she was fourteen, she is up for the title of “Rookie of the Year” in the Sports Illustrated Swim 2016 issue. Due to the fact that she is on the cover of an extremely mainstream magazine, Ashley Graham’s modeling career is likely to skyrocket. This will also cause her body activism public personality to become more influential, leading to an increase of people hearing her message.