Newsmaker of the week : Ashley Graham
Our Newsmaker this week is plus sized model Ashley Graham.
The 28 year old has been making waves in the plus size modelling industry when she became the first plus-size model to pose in Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue in February this year. Just this past week she debuted her first underwear collection in collaboration with plus size retailer Addition Elle at the NTFW.
Born in 1987 in Lincoln, Nebraska she started modelling at 12-years-old after being discovered in a mall. She was 14 when she landed her first modelling gig. She was underage and her mother had to sign a waiver that assured Lane Bryant would airbrush out her daughter’s nipples. While her career has included everything from editorial, catalogue, runway, commercials, tv/movie she is well-known for her work as a lingerie model for the plus-size clothing retailer Lane Bryant, for which she starred in a 2010 Super Bowl commercial that was banned from television and caused a lot of media attention. The ad controversy however brought her to the forefront of media’s attention.
Signed to IMG models (since December 2013), Ashley has been featured in fashion magazines such as Vogue, Glamour, O Magazine and Latina. Vogue’s 2008 Shape Issue dedicated a 3 pages article about her personal style and she was also one of the 5 models selected in Glamour’s 2009 Shape Issue ‘These Bodies are Beautiful at Every Size.’ In addition, she has appeared regularly in several Marina Rinaldi campaigns and in two iconic Levi’s campaigns: The Boyfriend Collection 2010 and the Curve ID SS 11. Other brands that she has been featured in include Target, Hanes, Bloomingdale’s, Evans, Simply Be, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Elomi Lingerie, Old Navy and many more.
Ashley was also featured on two gigantic billboards of that same brand on Time Square and 34th street in New York City in December of 2012. She is multi-talented and as well as modelling, she designs sexy lingerie for women of all shapes. She recently launched a lingerie collection in partnership with Addition Elle, a Canadian plus-size retailer, with the tagline “Sexy is a state of mind.”
With years of modeling under her belt Ashley continually pioneers for women to embrace their bodies no matter what their shape. She is a founding member of ALDA, a new coalition of models to promote beauty and a healthy body image of the female body beyond boundaries and limitations of size. In recent years, she has also participated in several humanitarian missions to South Africa with The Themba Foundation. She is a dedicated speaker at high schools to teenage girls about body image and acceptance, and has been invited to many talk shows including the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Entertainment Tonight and CBS News and spoke on NPR about plus size modeling.
Graham now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband Justin Ervin whom she met in 2009 and married a year later.
For more on Ashley check out her profile and check back next week to find out who our next Newsmaker is.
