Philomena Kwao Quotes
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Women I've met in different countries have told me that seeing my face in magazines gives them the courage to love themselves.
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My journey into modeling began completely by chance. I was in school finishing up my master's degree in health management and policy when a friend entered me into an online modeling competition.
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Before I went to boarding school, I had never read a fashion magazine. I grew up on a council estate in London, and fashion magazines were a luxury item that weren't even on my mind. The closest I got to a fashion magazine was my cousin's 'Top of the Pops' magazines, where we would learn the lyrics to every song and put posters on our walls.
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I think, for so long, women of different sizes have been pigeonholed, and with every campaign, it's always an adaptation of making fashion but for plus sizes. Sometimes it's in a little bit of a negative way, and plus is always a little bit slow to be fashion forward.
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Because of social media, it's bridged the gap between the advertisers and fashion and allowed people to find their group. It really widens what people are viewing and allows brands to see what the public wants to see.
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I am from Ghana, and although Ghana is celebrated as a relatively peaceful country in a historically war-torn region, the issues of development and recovery are still apparent.
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Growing up, I had body confidence issues, not really so much because of size but my skin color. I had trouble recognizing that the depth of my skin tone is really beautiful because whenever people referred to a beautiful black-skinned woman, you'd see Beyonce and Rihanna.
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When you model, you don't really have control over your image. It can be a good thing, it can be a bad thing. It can be a good thing in the sense that, actually, you have to get reintroduced to yourself. You don't always get that opportunity in your normal life. You can kind of hide from yourself.
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I think the fashion industry and the media industry in general have a responsibility to make sure that they celebrate the rich differences in all our backgrounds to make sure we don't fall into the trap of reducing beauty to one specific mold.
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I believe I'm beautiful because I'm me. I also believe that if you can find beauty in everything, you can allow that to change your mind-set, and doing so makes you a happier person.
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My goal is always to help other women with programs that help them live better lives, especially is areas where health care is missing. Both of my parents are from Ghana, where there is a need for health care in the smaller villages.
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I think the real problem is all the negative connotations people have with that term. They think, 'Oh my God! I don't want to be 'plus-size!'' But people attach too much significance to terms. We can't let these terms define us or our beauty.
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While education is hugely important, the ways in which women are portrayed in their communities are equally important. Portraying women as victims keeps women in a captive space and denies them of their agency: their ability to fight back and take ownership of their situation.
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I'm from Ghana, in West Africa, and all the women in Ghana absolutely love shea butter. We use it for everything, head to toe. I've used it all my life.
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Celebrate the things that make you individual and unique, and realize that there's no one in this world that looks like you.
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Beauty, to me, is not a physical thing. It's a feeling.
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Fat is fat. This goes back to the word 'plus.' We describe things. We are humans, and we need to describe things.
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There's not many models in the U.S. that have my depth - like, really dark skin - that are also plus size. Skin color has been one of those things we haven't really, really addressed on a large, widespread scale.
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I have a green juice every day because it makes me feel more awake; it makes my skin healthier.
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I try not to assign labels to myself. Sometimes I shop in the plus section, and sometimes I don't. I feel we attach too much significance to labels, and ultimately, it doesn't really matter.
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I love technology. I love the Internet.
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War and armed conflict disproportionately affect women and can turn what is supposed to be a joyous and beautiful experience - childbirth - into a horrific or even fatal one.
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The curvy community has really given me a voice because people want to see someone who looks like they do. They want to know their beauty is valid.
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It's refreshing to see plus women being treated as part of the fashion community as a whole and not just a separate piece or separate different thing.