Taking Up Space with Tess Holliday
Vibin' & Kinda Thrivin'
PodcastOne
3.7 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 3 September 2025
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Plus-size supermodel and body-positivity advocate Tess Holliday joins Alessandra to talk representation in fashion, practicing body neutrality, eating-disorder recovery, mental health, motherhood, dating while plus-size (and queer), and building real community in an algorithm-obsessed world. We get into setting boundaries online, handling trolls with compassion (and clapbacks), finding confidence through action, protecting your inner child, and why third spaces matter. Tess also shares the heart behind her new teen/tween book, Take Up Space, Y’all: Your Bold & Bright Guide to Self-Love, packed with expert insights, prompts, and practical tools for navigating social media, friendships, and body image. If you’ve ever felt “too much” or “not enough,” this one’s your soft place to land.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, Tess, so welcome to dive in. I'm so excited to have you. |
| 0:26.1 | I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me. |
| 0:28.6 | Of course. I, if anybody doesn't know who you are, I don't understand how, but I have been following you on it probably since 2013, 2014. |
| 0:40.6 | And I think it's such an honor to talk to somebody like you because I think you've paved |
| 0:48.7 | the way for people like me to have a space in this industry. |
| 0:52.8 | So I just think it's amazing that you're willing to |
| 0:56.0 | share your story. I'm really grateful for you being here. Well, thank you. That means a lot. |
| 0:59.8 | I'm so glad you didn't say that before we started filming because I would have cried. |
| 1:06.0 | Yeah, I think it's something that I'm so passionate about because as like a young girl, I'm sure you can |
| 1:12.4 | understand. I just didn't have that representation. And it made envisioning my future and trying to |
| 1:20.3 | set goals more difficult I felt like than the rest of the people around to me. So I just think |
| 1:25.2 | it's really important. And it's not an easy place to be in either. |
| 1:28.2 | It's not. |
| 1:29.0 | It's not. |
| 1:29.8 | And it's so funny now to say, like, to say that we didn't have the representation |
| 1:36.2 | because I feel like there is so much representation now. |
| 1:41.1 | And it's kind of wild to like think of a time where there wasn't. And things |
| 1:47.1 | might not be perfect. And they're definitely not where I feel like they should be. And I'm sure |
| 1:51.9 | you agree. But it is really refreshing to be able to go on Pinterest or TikTok or wherever and like see a lot of plus |
| 2:03.7 | size baddies with their own style just kind of like killing it. |
| 2:08.1 | You know, I'm not. |
| 2:09.7 | I'm not one of the handful. |
... |
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