A brand ambassador and model for Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty is championing the beauty of body inclusivity and positivity.
New York-based plus-size model Maia N. Douglas has had the pleasure of modeling for Rihanna’s lingerie company and appearing on a giant billboard in Times Square for Dove, Fox News reports. She used to work in property management but launched a modeling career after getting into content creation in 2020.
Douglas always had dreams of modeling, but didn’t think it was possible because of her size.
“I don’t fit a lot of checkboxes that naturally make me a person you would bet on,” she said. “I had a lot of things stacked up against me. I’m plus-size. I’m an African American girl.”
“And I had to really get over that fear of rejection and being told no and just accept the fact that… I will get a thousand no’s. But if I keep saying yes, one day I’ll meet someone who’s going to say yes back. And then that’s how opportunities happen,” she added.
There were castings that crushed her spirit and left her in tears due to the body-shaming that would take place.
“I had someone say, ‘You’re way too big to be doing this. You’re just not the right look. No one will want to work with you.’ And I was just like, ‘Okay, I appreciate you saying that. It hurts, but I don’t believe that. And I know there’s a space for me because there’s a space for everyone.'”
She recalls “one of the worst” experiences she had with one casting director who told her she wasn’t “marketable.”
“I knew you’re busty, but I didn’t know you look like this. So I don’t really know what we can do with you… I don’t think anyone wants to work with you. You’re not that marketable,'” Douglas recalled the casting director telling her.
But she had alredy sent in all her photos and measurements beforehand when they pursued her for the opportunity.
“They knew everything. They had seen me for a year. Like I present very well online what I look like.”
Having survived an eating disorder as a child and finally coming to a place of loving herself, Douglas is working to break stigmas around being plus-sized and even get other curvy community members to embrace the word “fat.”
“For me personally, fat is not a dirty word,” she shared.
“When it comes to, like, the term body acceptance … I don’t believe that that’s the goal… After you’re grieving something, you have acceptance… It’s like a tolerance…. But I feel like after accepting it, there should be a celebration. Like, you should be able to celebrate your body. So now I try to practice body celebration.”