Plus-Sized Models
Models walk down the runway at the Plus-Sized Runway Show during New York Fashion Week September 15, 2010 Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Tess Holliday is 5 feet 5 inches tall and a size 22 but she is a model—a plus size model. The brunette beauty, who has a huge fan following on Instagram, has now been roped in by a major modeling agency. Tess has already been featured in Vogue Italia and Nylon magazines.

In an industry where thin model Kate Moss, with a height of 5 feet 7 inches, is also considered "short," Tess has carved out her place. The plus size model, who is based out of Los Angeles, has been roped in by British modeling agency MiLK Management. "SOOO excited to announce we now represent #TessHolliday, plus-size model/blogger," the UK firm announced on Twitter with a picture of the curvaceous model.

Tess, whose real name is Tess Munster, has more than 390,000 followers on Instagram. She started a campaign on the social media where she urges people to accept their bodies. She has several posts with the hashtag #EffYourBeautyStandards. The response has been phenomenal.

After Tess started the campaign, she saw a lot of women writing in support of her campaign using the same hashtag. "I'm thrilled—it's really humbling to see so many women support me and what I'm doing," Holliday told Yahoo Beauty. The 29-year-old also said she is aware that a lot of women relate to her feelings "of not quite being good enough." She hopes her efforts would help women understand that no matter what size, colour or shape they are, they are beautiful.

She told the website she was bullied in school and was made to realise that she is not "normal." After leaving school, Tess became involved in raising awareness about liking our bodies. She also wrote a blog for Huffington Post in 2013 where she talked about the importance of respecting our bodies. Tess now has a 9-year-old son Rilee and says she has raised him to be "both feminist and respectful" for women's bodies.

She found out about plus size modeling when she was just 15 years old and said it helped her build her confidence. Tess told People magazine that she realised she, too, was pretty after she became a model. She has made her mark in the modeling world by doing a campaign for Benefit Cosmetics and has also worked with David LaChapelle.

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