As your platform has grown, you’ve been open about the criticism that’s been directed toward you, especially comments about not being at a large enough size to be representative of the plus-size community. Obviously, it’s a tricky conversation. But what would you say to some of those critics, and how would you add to that conversation? How do you feel about your place in it all?
As I’ve said before, this was all an accident, but I also believe everything happens for a reason. I’ve always been someone that isn’t afraid to stand up for myself and who wants to make a change. I just never had a platform to do so before. I feel like there’s a reason I do now.
[Having a large platform], you’re going to get people that don’t agree with you. I never thought I would get criticism from people that I feel I’m trying to support. In my mind, my goal is for everyone to feel equal and be able to walk into a store and there be all sizes available to everyone, not a small extended-size section or not being able to find those clothes at all. I genuinely think we all want the same thing. I don’t believe in the “you’re too small; you’re not big enough; you’re not small enough to be mid-size” rhetoric. I’m only trying to do good here and help as many people as I can.
People come up to me on the daily telling me that I’ve changed their lives, so I have to look at the positive and not the negative comments that I receive from people who were never going to support me in the first place. Also, I think a lot of people feel like, “Okay, well, if the brand is not going to go automatically to a 10X, then they’re not doing enough,” and I personally disagree with that. I’d rather be a part of some sort of change than do nothing at all.