The lovely lady pictured left is Mia Amber Davis. Before she tragically died in 2010, she was a successful plus model, actress and producer who was a fierce activist for size acceptance. Hers was the lovely face gracing many of the Ashley Stewart campaign ads.
In October 2008, Mia represented Plus Model Magazine as the Creative Editor at Large and answered a request to appear on an episode of Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency with a storyline of “helping Janice save the agency through the use of plus size models”
She was skeptical because it is common knowledge how Janice feels about “fat” people. Can you say “hater?”
Mia says, “so when I heard that she was adding plus models to her board I took it as a blessing and a curse. I saw it as a blessing because the viewing audience who may never have heard of a plus model would finally get to see us and learn that we had our rightful place in fashion.
The curse would be if Janice chose to attempt to berate and belittle the plus girls because she didn’t understand their bodies. I chose to step into the line of fire because I felt that I was well informed about the industry and I know that I can handle myself. I also wanted to stand up for the women who don’t know that they are beautiful because of the type of words that come out of the mouths of the ‘Janice Dickinsons’ of the world”.
That year when I contacted Mia and asked to interview her, I was struck by her incredible sense of humility and grace.
As a woman who has struggled for years with my own voice and sense of pride about my plus size body, I thought that Mia was the bees’ knees for standing up to Janice Dickinson and representing the curvy community with such dignity in the way that she did.
She was a very special person who did a great deal for the plus community by helping to push the boundaries to inspire more people to love the skin they’re in.
Here is a video sample of Mia spreading the love and encouraging size acceptance in a heated debate on CNN.