That's what I stand for, telling people you can be just who you are. It's actually more beautiful.

I just couldn't have people thinking that I only believe thin is beautiful. Thin is beautiful, but it's not the only kind of beautiful. I didn't want people to get the wrong message because of some retouching.

Ninety-nine percent of girls want to be models because they believe it will mean that they are the most beautiful women in the world. They think that they will wear expensive clothes, makes loads of money, travel a lot and have a rock star for a boyfriend. This never interested me. I didn't want anyone to scream out my name. I wanted to make art, to create an image with a photographer. And yes, I wanted to get out of Clinton, Mississippi - a small town that was so closed-minded you can't even imagine.

Besides being a model, I'm a human and a woman.

No matter what size you are, you must be healthy. I focus on health as a model, whether it's doing yoga, hiking, kickboxing - those things bring me joy.

I have made a choice to listen to myself even if everyone in the entire world doesn't agree with what I think. I know me, at the end of the day and I know what I can handle emotionally and what I can handle physically.

I have to say the thing that I want to do so badly is design a line. I still don't know exactly what direction I want to go but designing a line for full-figured women, offering them a chance to have chic clothing that's maybe a little more daring than the clothing they've been offered in the past, I would like the opportunity to create that for them. I'd also like to break into the beauty industry and be the face of a makeup line. I think for it sends a fantastic message: Here's the face of beauty and look, she's a bigger size.