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Equal Rights
Posted in Articles, Books, & Magazines, Beauty, Hair, & Make-up, Body Image, Confidence, Eating Disorders, Family & Friends, Media, Models, News, Parenting, Photographers, Plus-Size Modeling, Radio, Recipes & Food, Self-Esteem, Shopping, Sports, Trade Tips, Travel, TV, Unique Beauty, Work, Your Story with tags Angela Jones, Articles, Beauty, Body Image, Confidence, Designers, Eating Disorders, Events, Exercise, Family, Final Post, Food, Healthy is the New Skinny, Inspiration, liz nord, Media, Modeling, Parenting, Perfectly UnPerfected, Plus-Size Modeling, plus-size models unite, Secrets of Moms, Trade Tips on August 10, 2011 by Liz 
Liz Nord & Angela Jones ~ Photographed by Lindsey Bowen
We would love to thank each and every one of you for supporting PSMU. We have really enjoyed being a part of such a positive site, sharing stories, and promoting healthy living, confidence, self-esteem, and self-love. Thank you to all of our contributors, models, agents, friends, mothers, writers, and our readers! We truly believe everyone can make a difference if we all come together and let our voices be heard, as we have done at PSMU. We all need to be exposed to more healthy, happy, and positive ideas and role models. There are some extraordinary people out there doing amazing things and we need to hear more about them! Liz is now working at Liz Nord Creates. This site is home to all things having to do with writing, editing, social media, art, marketing, and creativity. I hope you find the articles and guest posts here to be informative and helpful in your creative and professional life. Liz is also working with Secrets of Moms. Secrets of Moms welcomes all women, including women who are not moms, as we also discuss a plethora women’s issues that are outside of the scope of parenting such as personal posts about self-esteem, confidence, body image, beauty, fashion, recipes, sexualization of girls and women, healthy living, adult bullies, hot topic issues, relationships, women’s mental and physical health issues, the truth (the good, the bad & the funny) about parenting, and all of life’s complexities in general while always ending with a positive message. For more information, please visit Secrets of Moms and Secrets of Moms Facebook page. This will be our final post via Plus-Size Models Unite. We hope to see you at our new site! Thank you! Liz & Angela 8 Comments » Posted in Beauty, Hair, & Make-up, Body Image, Confidence, Fashion, Inspiration, Media, Models, Plus-Size Modeling, Self-Esteem, Shopping, Trade Tips, Travel, Unique Beauty with tags Beauty, Body Image, Confidence, Fashion, Inspiration, Jessica Leahy, Media, Plus-Size Modeling, Self-Esteem, Trade Tips, Unique Beauty, Work, Your Story on July 10, 2011 by Liz 
Please tell us how you started your career as a model. It was through a modeling competition and the prize was a modeling contract. My aunt told me about it and I wasn’t really interested so I put it off. Eventually my aunty convinced me enough and I entered, but only after the competition was over so I didn’t win. But I got a call a few days later telling me that they got my pictures and they would like to offer me a contract. I was stoked and I’ve been doing it ever since. Do you feel that ‘plus’ modeling is helping to redefine beauty? I think plus modeling is certainly opening up what the fashion industry defines as beauty. I think that more and more people who influence the world of fashion are opening their eyes to the fact that beauty goes so much further than the inches of somebody’s waist. Plus models are definitely aiding in this effort to push the industry into embracing diversity, which is a fantastic thing! How do you define the term ‘plus’ model? To be honest, I don’t really like the term ‘plus’ model. The actual wording just doesn’t have the best ring to it, you know? It encourages sizeist connotations, when really most of us are just healthy women totally in proportion with our height. Just like how I know many ‘straight size’ models don’t like that term. There should just be ‘models’ with two categories– ‘male’ and ‘female’. Models should represent health, beauty, and confidence! 
What do you enjoy about modeling? What is it about your career that brings you joy? I enjoy the people and the creativity they bring. No two days are the same and every day you work, you get to collaborate with all these different people bringing all this different creative energy and experience. It’s certainly not a 9-5 environment and I love that too! Do you have any funny modeling stories you would like to share with us? Once I was shooting at a beach and was standing on the side of a rock pool. I was posing for the photographer, there were some people around, and pretty soon, I noticed that there was a group of these young guys watching what was going on. After a few clicks I noticed the boys were starting to get a bit rowdy and were shouting and I couldn’t hear them but I was trying to focus and just zone them out. All of a sudden a huge wave hit me and pushed me into the water! The boys were trying to warn me! I guess the photographer was only looking at what was in his lens so he didn’t see either and he was so apologetic. I was fine and luckily, my mascara was waterproof! Where you ever teased as a child? Hell yes! Not crazy teased but I was born in Australia, moved to New Guinea when I was two weeks old and came back at about nine, and girls are mean when they are nine! They already had their clicks and I just had deal with it. Now I look back and I think of it as lucky because I had to embrace my own company, I’m fine being individual and I think it made me stronger, but at the time it was so painful! Eventually, I settled in a made some great mates that I’ve stuck with since! What do you wish you would have known at the age of 13? That being an individual is okay. Embrace your inner weirdo! It’s more interesting. 
Have you ever suffered from body image or self-esteem issues? If so, what advice would you give to young girls and women who are currently struggling? I think everyone goes through some issues with body image and self-esteem. I definitely have but I think that it’s good to remember that you are very blessed if you have a working body, if everything runs right then you’ve already won the jackpot, and if you’re pretty, that is a nice bonus. But looks are not everything. I came to terms with the fact a long time ago that I am not the hottest person in the world, not even close! And I may never even be the hottest person in a room and that’s ok too, because I am the only me, and I will be the best me, better than anyone else on the planet! What kinds of pressures do you see the girls in your life facing these days? What can we as mentors do to better address these issues? I think there are a lot of parallels portrayed by the media that the lives of young women should mirror the lives of the “celebrities” they see on “reality” TV and on glossy magazines. These parallels are unrealistic and put pressure on young women to feel like they have to look a certain way or dress in a particular brand to be successful in life. I guess there needs to more emphasis on individual journey and individual success. Young women need to know that their lives don’t need to be like it is in the magazines to be whole, fulfilling, and admirable. Who taught you about real beauty? My family and friends. I think it would be very hard to really give credit to someone in a magazine or on a screen for teaching you a true lesson in real beauty. True beauty is when someone shows you generosity, kindness, or trust; it’s moments when you can think ‘wow, that was really beautiful thing to do’. Real beauty is seen in someone’s actions, not their reflections. 
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