Denise Bidot
I think it's about time that we represent all women on the catwalk because that is a part of fashion.
The way I think about it is there are some people who are supposed to be skinny, because I have friends of mine who are that thin and who eat more than I do and don't gain a pound, but that's just their frame.
Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Helena Christensen and Claudia Schiffer really proved to me that curves and fashion can work in beautiful harmony.
I try to eat healthy and stay active.
I do travel quite and bit and so going to the gym can get tricky at times.
I have tried gluten free, but I don't think dieting is for me.
Skin care is one of the most important things for the body and feeling good.
I consider taking care of my skin one of my priorities. It's also related to do what I do for modeling, so I have to make sure I take care of my skin to make sure I don't have breakouts.
Our face tells us a lot about the way we are eating. When people drink too much, they have breakouts that directly affect their face. Just listening to my skin and paying attention to it has taught me a lot.
At night, I try to sheet mask. I'm one of those people who does it on the plane.
My daughter is with me 90 percent of the time and when I travel to Europe her dad is able to watch her.
If you share everything with your kid, you're honest and you really work hard, everything will work out as it should.
For acting, classes are a necessity, but for modeling it's really just knowing who you are and knowing how to sell yourself.
The more successful you become the more people want to put you down. I've always been very clear on where I stand with that and I'm happy with who I am when I go to sleep.
I was discovered by a photographer. I literally was in the right place at the right time.
I do know that when I started, there weren't very many Latina plus-size models. For a long time, with my look and my body type, I felt like there wasn't a place for me.
People always think, 'If I had this job or straighter hair or was skinnier or blonder, I'd be happy,' but really, it's a matter of being able to be happy with who you are.
I used to audition for all those Disney Channel shows, and I was always told that I had the leading-lady personality but was too developed and too curvy.
My mom struggled with her weight so much growing up. I watched her go from a size 2 to a size 22. I just kept seeing her try all these unhealthy ways to lose weight and struggle to be something she wasn't meant to be. I knew early on that I wasn't willing to compromise that way.
It's so amazing to be able to speak to women across the world and be an example to the next generation.
Love is unconditional. Also, love for me is different because I find that - I'm a mom and so for me love for my daughter is gonna always be number one.
I was raised to believe that sex was for marriage.
It wasn't until I owned my body and really learned to love it - all of it - that my career just went to a level that I couldn't have expected.
When I started, fashion for curvy women was very ugly.
It is about time we reprogram the way women think, and I think it is important to push that toward women who need to understand that beauty is not one-sided.
I'm one of those people that knows everything is possible if I just work really hard.
Of course I would be honored to be the first plus-size Victoria's Secret model.
When I started modeling, there were very few places people could turn to for self-love and a positive community.
Women want to see more women that look like themselves - they don't want to see something completely unattainable.
As a model, it's been really freeing to embrace my individuality and celebrate what makes us all different.
I feel the most confident when I'm by the ocean with the salt in my hair and zero makeup on.
There's no way in the world I would have thought about opening New York Fashion Week or walking in London.
I want as many women as possible to see that they are capable. We can do anything.
I am aware of how many young girls are out there looking for inspiration and for role models and I want to make sure I don't let them down.
Most of my shoes are booties.
I love a good boot, I'm such a New York girl. I can wear a boot all year round.
I've tried a lot of careers: sports, dance. I've kind of pinpointed what I'm not good at to figure out what I'm good at.
You don't grow up in a Latina household where everyone is curvy thinking that you can be a model. That's just not normal.
My body is not meant to small. I think even when I was at my fittest at 13 and 14 years old when I was dancing all the time and I was really active and constantly doing things, I was no smaller than an 8 and I was working my butt off for that.
I'm constantly shopping; I'm not going to lie.
I feel sexy all the time. I feel like sexiness is in my blood.
I love everything about my body. Every bit of it... the cellulite, the stretch marks, everything that I thought at one point was an imperfection, I now realize is everything that makes me unique.
You can be curvy and still be absolutely flawless.
Being you is what defines real beauty.
I stand firmly to the fact that you shouldn't have to change who you are to fit into any beauty standards or to be recognized in your job or to move forward in life. You should just be yourself.
I'm proud of my stretch marks. For so long in my life, I thought those were things I needed to hide or things that made me imperfect, and I came to realize that those are the qualities that made me unique.
There are so many layers to what makes you feel empowered. Obviously, self-love. If you can't get into that, you can't get into moving to care about others and changing the world.
Sometimes life guides you on a path so that you can find yourself.
I love my curves. I love my waist. My hips. I feel like so much of it is who I am, so I love it all.
I'm Spanish: big butt, little waist. I can't be a size 2.