full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ashley Graham: Plus-size? More like my size


Unscramble the Blue Letters


Romina Meffe, tnostaalrr

Denise RQ, Reviewer

You are bold, you are brilliant, and you are beautiful. There is no other woman like you. You are capable. Back fat, I see you popping over my bra today, but that's alright. I'm going to choose to love you. And thick thighs, you are just so sexy, you can't stop rubbing each other. (Laughter) That's alright. I'm going to keep you. And cellulite, I have not forgotten about you. I'm going to choose to love you even though you want to take over my whole boottm half, but you're a part of me. I love you. It's true, honestly. I felt free once I realized I was never going to fit the norarw mold that society wnetad me to fit in. I was never going to be perfect enough for an industry that dnefies perfection from the outside in. And that's OK. Rolls, curves, cellulite, all of it. I love every part of me. My name is aselhy graahm, and I'm a model and body asivtcit. Over the last 15 years, I've come to the cclosoiunn that there is no one perfect body. Because I, like you, possess a wonderfully unique and diverse phqsuiye. Now, the fsohian industry may persist to label me as "plus size", but I like to think of it as 'my size'. In fact, did you know that the plus size fashion industry actually starts at a US size 8? And it goes up to a US size 16. So basically what I'm saying is that the majority of this room right now is cenoriedsd plus size. How does it make you feel to be labeled? I really feel like we need to start looking beyond the plus size model paradigms to what it actually means to be a model in 2015. My journey begins in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was 12 yraes old and scouted in a mall. At 13, I signed with a major modeling agency and was traveling the world. I was shooting big campaigns, and before I even graduated high school, I had been to multiple different cueiotrns. At 17, I graduated and moved to New York, and while most kids are going through their self-discovery sagte in college, my self discovery stage was in the midst of catwalks, catalogs, and casting calls. I was working as a full time plus size model. Back in Nebraska, I was known as the "Fat Model". The girl who is pretty for a big girl. I always hated aeinrwnsg that question: "What do you do for a lnviig?" I would see that person's eyebrow raise as I would reply: "I'm a model!" I'd have to qilckuy qualify with: "Well, I'm a plus size model." In fact, here is my very first editorial for YM Magazine. And, you are reaidng it ctclorrey, "cantaloupes-large breasts". I was helping women across America at the age of 15 dress their big boobs. But you know what the first thing that someone in mdilde school pointed out to me besides-- well, besides the obvious? Was that fold above my knee. That fat fold above my knee. As a young model, my ceinndcofe was tugged at and pulled in all different directions. I struggled to achieve true confidence. I would go home and look in front of the mirror and only hate what I saw. And to fill the void on the inside, I began to cave to all the vices being thrown my way. Between the praetis, the men, the alcohol, I was looking for self love, for affirmation from somebody, when in reality, I didn't love who I was, and I couldn't seem to get a handle on regulating my own weight. I bgaen to face my insecurities head on. And instead, I was flnilig my life with temporary fixes. I, like so many young wemon, have struggled to love who I am. And Dove's global rropet on attitudes towards beauty actually did a survey with thousands of women in ten different countries. And you know what the most striking result was? That only 2% of women find themselves beautiful. 2%! We need to work together to redefine the global vision of beauty. And it starts with becoming your own role model. As a curvy woman it was the assumption that I should look up to Marilyn Monroe or jieefnnr leopz mainly because they were two of the most notable curvy women in the public eye that were being praised for their ceurvs. But these weren't my role models. In reality, the woman I looked up to the most was my mother. She told me I was beautiful, and she never devalued herself. So why would I? She told me and taught me that true beauty comes from within and that vadiloitan and self worth must also come from within. In my lwoest moments of insecurity this is when I relizaed that I had to reclaim my body and its image as my own. Plus-size fashion is an 18-billion-dollar industry. And now IMG, the world's nubemr one modeling aecgny, has sneigd me and other models that are not defined by their size. My body, like my confidence, has been picked apart, manipulated, and controlled by others who didn't necessarily understand it. I had to learn to rileacm my body as my own. And in reclaiming my body as my own, I ueroodstnd as a woman that I had a greater purpose. I had a greater purpose to redefine beauty. The feminine beauty. Curvy models are becoming more and more vocal about the isolating nature of the term plus size. We are calling ourselves what we want to be called: women with sphaes that are our own. I believe beauty is beyond size. With so much emphasis on the body and external, it's no wonder that we all seffur so much internally. But you know, people in the fashion irnustdy actually told me that I would never be in magazines let alone the covers of them. Well, I guess we've proven them wnorg. Five covers in a little over a year. And I was one of the very first curvy medlos to be featured in Sports iaeutllstrd Swimsuit eiditon. (Applause) Thank you. Never let anybody tell you that you can't. I have achieved, and I'm still achieving what was seemingly impossible. My goal is to give a voice to young women. To give a vcioe to young women who struggle to find someone they can look up to. For girls who sultggre to look inside the mirror and say, I love you. For women who feel uncomfortable exnrsiespg their confidence they've locked away inside themselves. For women who have relinquished their rights to someone else. It is critical that both men and women create a body positive environment. Uplift the important women in your lives. Create a safe space for them to epserxs their body and their batuey for who they are not because of who they're not. Be you. Be real. Be authentic. Be your favorite kind of woman. Don't let anybody else take that job. And remember this is the generation of body diversity. The current is chnagnig. I now invite all of you to #TEDxBV15 with your own self-affirming words. There may not be a full-length mirror in front of each of you tadoy, but I want to challenge you to think about what you would want to say to yourself in the morrir with your own self-affirming words. Thank you. (Applause)

Open Cloze


Romina Meffe, __________

Denise RQ, Reviewer

You are bold, you are brilliant, and you are beautiful. There is no other woman like you. You are capable. Back fat, I see you popping over my bra today, but that's alright. I'm going to choose to love you. And thick thighs, you are just so sexy, you can't stop rubbing each other. (Laughter) That's alright. I'm going to keep you. And cellulite, I have not forgotten about you. I'm going to choose to love you even though you want to take over my whole ______ half, but you're a part of me. I love you. It's true, honestly. I felt free once I realized I was never going to fit the ______ mold that society ______ me to fit in. I was never going to be perfect enough for an industry that _______ perfection from the outside in. And that's OK. Rolls, curves, cellulite, all of it. I love every part of me. My name is ______ ______, and I'm a model and body ________. Over the last 15 years, I've come to the __________ that there is no one perfect body. Because I, like you, possess a wonderfully unique and diverse ________. Now, the _______ industry may persist to label me as "plus size", but I like to think of it as 'my size'. In fact, did you know that the plus size fashion industry actually starts at a US size 8? And it goes up to a US size 16. So basically what I'm saying is that the majority of this room right now is __________ plus size. How does it make you feel to be labeled? I really feel like we need to start looking beyond the plus size model paradigms to what it actually means to be a model in 2015. My journey begins in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was 12 _____ old and scouted in a mall. At 13, I signed with a major modeling agency and was traveling the world. I was shooting big campaigns, and before I even graduated high school, I had been to multiple different _________. At 17, I graduated and moved to New York, and while most kids are going through their self-discovery _____ in college, my self discovery stage was in the midst of catwalks, catalogs, and casting calls. I was working as a full time plus size model. Back in Nebraska, I was known as the "Fat Model". The girl who is pretty for a big girl. I always hated _________ that question: "What do you do for a ______?" I would see that person's eyebrow raise as I would reply: "I'm a model!" I'd have to _______ qualify with: "Well, I'm a plus size model." In fact, here is my very first editorial for YM Magazine. And, you are _______ it _________, "cantaloupes-large breasts". I was helping women across America at the age of 15 dress their big boobs. But you know what the first thing that someone in ______ school pointed out to me besides-- well, besides the obvious? Was that fold above my knee. That fat fold above my knee. As a young model, my __________ was tugged at and pulled in all different directions. I struggled to achieve true confidence. I would go home and look in front of the mirror and only hate what I saw. And to fill the void on the inside, I began to cave to all the vices being thrown my way. Between the _______, the men, the alcohol, I was looking for self love, for affirmation from somebody, when in reality, I didn't love who I was, and I couldn't seem to get a handle on regulating my own weight. I _____ to face my insecurities head on. And instead, I was _______ my life with temporary fixes. I, like so many young _____, have struggled to love who I am. And Dove's global ______ on attitudes towards beauty actually did a survey with thousands of women in ten different countries. And you know what the most striking result was? That only 2% of women find themselves beautiful. 2%! We need to work together to redefine the global vision of beauty. And it starts with becoming your own role model. As a curvy woman it was the assumption that I should look up to Marilyn Monroe or ________ _____ mainly because they were two of the most notable curvy women in the public eye that were being praised for their ______. But these weren't my role models. In reality, the woman I looked up to the most was my mother. She told me I was beautiful, and she never devalued herself. So why would I? She told me and taught me that true beauty comes from within and that __________ and self worth must also come from within. In my ______ moments of insecurity this is when I ________ that I had to reclaim my body and its image as my own. Plus-size fashion is an 18-billion-dollar industry. And now IMG, the world's ______ one modeling ______, has ______ me and other models that are not defined by their size. My body, like my confidence, has been picked apart, manipulated, and controlled by others who didn't necessarily understand it. I had to learn to _______ my body as my own. And in reclaiming my body as my own, I __________ as a woman that I had a greater purpose. I had a greater purpose to redefine beauty. The feminine beauty. Curvy models are becoming more and more vocal about the isolating nature of the term plus size. We are calling ourselves what we want to be called: women with ______ that are our own. I believe beauty is beyond size. With so much emphasis on the body and external, it's no wonder that we all ______ so much internally. But you know, people in the fashion ________ actually told me that I would never be in magazines let alone the covers of them. Well, I guess we've proven them _____. Five covers in a little over a year. And I was one of the very first curvy ______ to be featured in Sports ___________ Swimsuit _______. (Applause) Thank you. Never let anybody tell you that you can't. I have achieved, and I'm still achieving what was seemingly impossible. My goal is to give a voice to young women. To give a _____ to young women who struggle to find someone they can look up to. For girls who ________ to look inside the mirror and say, I love you. For women who feel uncomfortable __________ their confidence they've locked away inside themselves. For women who have relinquished their rights to someone else. It is critical that both men and women create a body positive environment. Uplift the important women in your lives. Create a safe space for them to _______ their body and their ______ for who they are not because of who they're not. Be you. Be real. Be authentic. Be your favorite kind of woman. Don't let anybody else take that job. And remember this is the generation of body diversity. The current is ________. I now invite all of you to #TEDxBV15 with your own self-affirming words. There may not be a full-length mirror in front of each of you _____, but I want to challenge you to think about what you would want to say to yourself in the ______ with your own self-affirming words. Thank you. (Applause)

Solution


  1. edition
  2. validation
  3. confidence
  4. jennifer
  5. years
  6. graham
  7. number
  8. conclusion
  9. bottom
  10. women
  11. middle
  12. understood
  13. shapes
  14. voice
  15. narrow
  16. realized
  17. lopez
  18. illustrated
  19. wrong
  20. report
  21. mirror
  22. living
  23. activist
  24. struggle
  25. wanted
  26. considered
  27. ashley
  28. industry
  29. began
  30. countries
  31. signed
  32. correctly
  33. fashion
  34. physique
  35. quickly
  36. today
  37. reclaim
  38. filling
  39. changing
  40. beauty
  41. suffer
  42. translator
  43. curves
  44. answering
  45. expressing
  46. agency
  47. express
  48. models
  49. parties
  50. reading
  51. stage
  52. defines
  53. lowest

Original Text


Romina Meffe, Translator

Denise RQ, Reviewer

You are bold, you are brilliant, and you are beautiful. There is no other woman like you. You are capable. Back fat, I see you popping over my bra today, but that's alright. I'm going to choose to love you. And thick thighs, you are just so sexy, you can't stop rubbing each other. (Laughter) That's alright. I'm going to keep you. And cellulite, I have not forgotten about you. I'm going to choose to love you even though you want to take over my whole bottom half, but you're a part of me. I love you. It's true, honestly. I felt free once I realized I was never going to fit the narrow mold that society wanted me to fit in. I was never going to be perfect enough for an industry that defines perfection from the outside in. And that's OK. Rolls, curves, cellulite, all of it. I love every part of me. My name is Ashley Graham, and I'm a model and body activist. Over the last 15 years, I've come to the conclusion that there is no one perfect body. Because I, like you, possess a wonderfully unique and diverse physique. Now, the fashion industry may persist to label me as "plus size", but I like to think of it as 'my size'. In fact, did you know that the plus size fashion industry actually starts at a US size 8? And it goes up to a US size 16. So basically what I'm saying is that the majority of this room right now is considered plus size. How does it make you feel to be labeled? I really feel like we need to start looking beyond the plus size model paradigms to what it actually means to be a model in 2015. My journey begins in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was 12 years old and scouted in a mall. At 13, I signed with a major modeling agency and was traveling the world. I was shooting big campaigns, and before I even graduated high school, I had been to multiple different countries. At 17, I graduated and moved to New York, and while most kids are going through their self-discovery stage in college, my self discovery stage was in the midst of catwalks, catalogs, and casting calls. I was working as a full time plus size model. Back in Nebraska, I was known as the "Fat Model". The girl who is pretty for a big girl. I always hated answering that question: "What do you do for a living?" I would see that person's eyebrow raise as I would reply: "I'm a model!" I'd have to quickly qualify with: "Well, I'm a plus size model." In fact, here is my very first editorial for YM Magazine. And, you are reading it correctly, "cantaloupes-large breasts". I was helping women across America at the age of 15 dress their big boobs. But you know what the first thing that someone in middle school pointed out to me besides-- well, besides the obvious? Was that fold above my knee. That fat fold above my knee. As a young model, my confidence was tugged at and pulled in all different directions. I struggled to achieve true confidence. I would go home and look in front of the mirror and only hate what I saw. And to fill the void on the inside, I began to cave to all the vices being thrown my way. Between the parties, the men, the alcohol, I was looking for self love, for affirmation from somebody, when in reality, I didn't love who I was, and I couldn't seem to get a handle on regulating my own weight. I began to face my insecurities head on. And instead, I was filling my life with temporary fixes. I, like so many young women, have struggled to love who I am. And Dove's global report on attitudes towards beauty actually did a survey with thousands of women in ten different countries. And you know what the most striking result was? That only 2% of women find themselves beautiful. 2%! We need to work together to redefine the global vision of beauty. And it starts with becoming your own role model. As a curvy woman it was the assumption that I should look up to Marilyn Monroe or Jennifer Lopez mainly because they were two of the most notable curvy women in the public eye that were being praised for their curves. But these weren't my role models. In reality, the woman I looked up to the most was my mother. She told me I was beautiful, and she never devalued herself. So why would I? She told me and taught me that true beauty comes from within and that validation and self worth must also come from within. In my lowest moments of insecurity this is when I realized that I had to reclaim my body and its image as my own. Plus-size fashion is an 18-billion-dollar industry. And now IMG, the world's number one modeling agency, has signed me and other models that are not defined by their size. My body, like my confidence, has been picked apart, manipulated, and controlled by others who didn't necessarily understand it. I had to learn to reclaim my body as my own. And in reclaiming my body as my own, I understood as a woman that I had a greater purpose. I had a greater purpose to redefine beauty. The feminine beauty. Curvy models are becoming more and more vocal about the isolating nature of the term plus size. We are calling ourselves what we want to be called: women with shapes that are our own. I believe beauty is beyond size. With so much emphasis on the body and external, it's no wonder that we all suffer so much internally. But you know, people in the fashion industry actually told me that I would never be in magazines let alone the covers of them. Well, I guess we've proven them wrong. Five covers in a little over a year. And I was one of the very first curvy models to be featured in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. (Applause) Thank you. Never let anybody tell you that you can't. I have achieved, and I'm still achieving what was seemingly impossible. My goal is to give a voice to young women. To give a voice to young women who struggle to find someone they can look up to. For girls who struggle to look inside the mirror and say, I love you. For women who feel uncomfortable expressing their confidence they've locked away inside themselves. For women who have relinquished their rights to someone else. It is critical that both men and women create a body positive environment. Uplift the important women in your lives. Create a safe space for them to express their body and their beauty for who they are not because of who they're not. Be you. Be real. Be authentic. Be your favorite kind of woman. Don't let anybody else take that job. And remember this is the generation of body diversity. The current is changing. I now invite all of you to #TEDxBV15 with your own self-affirming words. There may not be a full-length mirror in front of each of you today, but I want to challenge you to think about what you would want to say to yourself in the mirror with your own self-affirming words. Thank you. (Applause)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
fashion industry 3
size model 2
greater purpose 2
curvy models 2
young women 2



Important Words


  1. achieve
  2. achieved
  3. achieving
  4. activist
  5. affirmation
  6. age
  7. agency
  8. alcohol
  9. alright
  10. america
  11. answering
  12. applause
  13. ashley
  14. assumption
  15. attitudes
  16. authentic
  17. basically
  18. beautiful
  19. beauty
  20. began
  21. begins
  22. big
  23. body
  24. bold
  25. boobs
  26. bottom
  27. bra
  28. brilliant
  29. calling
  30. calls
  31. campaigns
  32. capable
  33. casting
  34. catalogs
  35. catwalks
  36. cave
  37. cellulite
  38. challenge
  39. changing
  40. choose
  41. college
  42. conclusion
  43. confidence
  44. considered
  45. controlled
  46. correctly
  47. countries
  48. covers
  49. create
  50. critical
  51. current
  52. curves
  53. curvy
  54. defined
  55. defines
  56. denise
  57. devalued
  58. directions
  59. discovery
  60. diverse
  61. diversity
  62. dress
  63. edition
  64. editorial
  65. emphasis
  66. environment
  67. express
  68. expressing
  69. external
  70. eye
  71. eyebrow
  72. face
  73. fact
  74. fashion
  75. fat
  76. favorite
  77. featured
  78. feel
  79. felt
  80. feminine
  81. fill
  82. filling
  83. find
  84. fit
  85. fixes
  86. fold
  87. forgotten
  88. free
  89. front
  90. full
  91. generation
  92. girl
  93. girls
  94. give
  95. global
  96. goal
  97. graduated
  98. graham
  99. greater
  100. guess
  101. handle
  102. hate
  103. hated
  104. head
  105. helping
  106. high
  107. home
  108. honestly
  109. illustrated
  110. image
  111. img
  112. important
  113. impossible
  114. industry
  115. insecurities
  116. insecurity
  117. internally
  118. invite
  119. isolating
  120. jennifer
  121. job
  122. journey
  123. kids
  124. kind
  125. knee
  126. label
  127. labeled
  128. laughter
  129. learn
  130. life
  131. lincoln
  132. lives
  133. living
  134. locked
  135. looked
  136. lopez
  137. love
  138. lowest
  139. magazine
  140. magazines
  141. major
  142. majority
  143. mall
  144. manipulated
  145. marilyn
  146. means
  147. meffe
  148. men
  149. middle
  150. midst
  151. mirror
  152. model
  153. modeling
  154. models
  155. mold
  156. moments
  157. monroe
  158. mother
  159. moved
  160. multiple
  161. narrow
  162. nature
  163. nebraska
  164. necessarily
  165. notable
  166. number
  167. obvious
  168. paradigms
  169. part
  170. parties
  171. people
  172. perfect
  173. perfection
  174. persist
  175. physique
  176. picked
  177. pointed
  178. popping
  179. positive
  180. possess
  181. praised
  182. pretty
  183. proven
  184. public
  185. pulled
  186. purpose
  187. qualify
  188. quickly
  189. raise
  190. reading
  191. real
  192. reality
  193. realized
  194. reclaim
  195. reclaiming
  196. redefine
  197. regulating
  198. relinquished
  199. remember
  200. report
  201. result
  202. reviewer
  203. rights
  204. role
  205. rolls
  206. romina
  207. room
  208. rq
  209. rubbing
  210. safe
  211. school
  212. scouted
  213. seemingly
  214. sexy
  215. shapes
  216. shooting
  217. signed
  218. size
  219. society
  220. space
  221. sports
  222. stage
  223. start
  224. starts
  225. stop
  226. striking
  227. struggle
  228. struggled
  229. suffer
  230. survey
  231. swimsuit
  232. taught
  233. temporary
  234. ten
  235. term
  236. thick
  237. thighs
  238. thousands
  239. thrown
  240. time
  241. today
  242. told
  243. translator
  244. traveling
  245. true
  246. tugged
  247. uncomfortable
  248. understand
  249. understood
  250. unique
  251. uplift
  252. validation
  253. vices
  254. vision
  255. vocal
  256. voice
  257. void
  258. wanted
  259. weight
  260. woman
  261. women
  262. wonderfully
  263. words
  264. work
  265. working
  266. world
  267. worth
  268. wrong
  269. year
  270. years
  271. ym
  272. york
  273. young