Motherhood has brought me many joys and insights, but the new perspective it granted me on the role I had inadvertently played in young women's lives for the 2 decades I spent in the modeling industry was downright sobering.

I've found that balance is key. I'm no longer an extremist in any one direction.

My weight fluctuated when I was 30, and I did the unthinkable - I stepped out as a plus-sized model.

I delight in my family obligations, but they leave little time for breaks let alone quick trips across the country.

My doctor felt that the main contributing factor was so many years of malnutrition, especially during my formative years, even before I got into modeling.

Just as young people absorb all kinds of messages from the media, young girls learn what it means to be a woman by watching the older women in their lives.

I am a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother. I am a friend of women and I am their advocate.