- After being laughed at over her weight, 17-year-old Iviwe Potwana decided enough is enough

- The young woman stopped listening to body shamers and found peace with her weight

- Now, the aspiring plus size model wants to tell other women it’s okay to be bigger than your friends, because thick is beautiful

A lot of women worldwide struggle with their body image. Everywhere we look there is constant reminders that we are not perfect or even good enough.

Thus, girls with anorexia continue to believe they are fat and curvy women constantly feel they are ugly and not accepted. But, luckily there are a few women who managed to break through those ideals, and now aim to help other females find inner peace with their bodies.

Iviwe Potwana, a 17-year-old girl shared her story with Briefly.co.za about how she overcame bullying in school to reach a point where she accepted herself.

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What is extraordinary about Potwana’s story is she learned to love herself from an age where most teens still try to find their identities and she did it despite of body shamers telling her she was not good enough.

“I started first by accepting who I am and being happy in my own body and admit to myself I’m beautiful. I was too tired of being worried that I’m bigger than my friends and rather understand that being thick doesn’t mean ugly.”

Instead of going on a harmful crash-diet, Potwana decided she wanted to go into plus size modelling, despite being so young in the industry.

Potwana said: “I’m in a plus size movement right now called Thick Nations and looking for a plus size modelling agency."

She added that she believes she could make a difference in the lives of both young and older women, who are not content with their bodies and her dreams of empowering thick girls do not stop there.

Potwana said she hoped to one day open her own agency in Cape Town, where she could help other plus size women succeed in the modelling industry.

Potwana wanted to encourage women to live a healthy lifestyle. But, she said rather than focusing on losing weight with harmful diets and torturous exercise plans, women should find the joy in working out and eating healthy.

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The aspiring plus size model concluded: “Love yourself and your body. Thick is beautiful and beautiful is thick and no one should be telling you anything less than that."

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Source: Legit.ng

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