As I'm sure you know by now I am a firm believer in the power of words and the significance they can carry both positive and negative

and no one knows the impact words can have more than my guest today.

Model and body activist Ashley Graham has been labeled everything from gorgeous to fat,

stupid to beautiful all by the age of 12 and she spent most of her 36 years on Earth under a microscope, everything from her height

to her waist under scrutiny.

But Ashley Graham did not run and hide.

Now, instead, she stepped into the spotlight and into her purpose, becoming a model by her early teenage years

and showing the world that beauty knows no boundaries.

In February 2016, Ashley made history as the first size 14 model

to ever be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swim.

And two years later, she became the first curvy model

of her generation to receive a major beauty

contract. Today she describes herself as a model, a mogul, and a mama. This is a

woman breaking barriers and paving the path for the next generation of women,

and she's here today to bear it all. I'm Hoda Kotley. Welcome to my podcast, Making Space. First of all,

all,

all the the the First of all you are one of my very favorite people because you have you personify

what I think a lot of people want to be and it's true and it's in you. We sat here for

the last five minutes and I know what drives you through life. Okay? I already know

okay? You have you you really do you have a path that you're on and that's a combination of loving yourself your spirituality

and that's just sort of your tenants and my kids and your kids tell me about what

your kind of guiding principles are through life well getting being raised in a very like Christian home, I think like you have those

...