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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If you call me 'fat,' it doesn't bother me because I just don't care.
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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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.
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Beauty, to me, is not a physical thing. It's a feeling.
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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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My best advice is to celebrate your own unique features and never put them down. There is beauty in individuality, and it's so important to appreciate everything your body allows you to do. It's OK to have a down day - we all do from time to time - but it's not OK to compare yourself to others.
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If a brand wants a specific girl, they want a specific girl, wherever you are.
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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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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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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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I love technology. I love the Internet.