Plus Size Modeling page proves big is beautiful

Women everywhere worry about how they look — you don’t have to be plus-sized to have body issues.

Explore Talent, a Las Vegas-based talent jobs listing website, created a Facebook page in an attempt to help promote the company. It quickly grew into an online haven for women of all sizes to improve their self-esteem and lives through the power of social media.

The Facebook page Plus Size Modeling started with inspirational quotes meant to empower women, but it wasn’t until the group started posting photos of big, beautiful women, that their content really started to take off. The response was overwhelming.

Their photos and posts get hundreds of shares, with their most popular posts reaching 500 shares or more.

With 158,000 likes, the page was created last year and is continuing to gain attention for creating a more positive image for women, including those who are curvy.

Sabrina DiResta, the social media marketing director for the modeling company, said she wanted to create an online community where women of all ages could talk about their problems, seek out advice, and most importantly, not feel so alone.

DiResta wrote about her experience in a story that was featured on Huffington Post’s Facebook Stories series, “We made it our mission to expose the world to this wonderful side of plus-size modeling and started showcasing the work of plus-size models all over the globe in an effort to show our fans that big, beautiful and sexy really does exist.”

“What about the other millions of women out there who can’t just jump into a small dress and feel good about themselves? Or don’t think they could ever get in front of a camera and become the face of a brand?” DiResta wrote.

DiResta says any woman can feel beautiful if they are taught to respect her body and have dignity.

Now, the site serves over 120,000 people. DiResta loves the relationship the group has created with users, emphasizing the page is there to comfort people. They receive an outpouring of emails, messages and photos each day. DiResta makes sure they take time to respond to each and everyone.

Several months ago a 17-year-old girl reached out to the page after she told her parents she wanted to be a model, but her parents said she was too big to achieve her dream.

“Until she found the plus-size modeling community on Facebook, she felt alone. Through our page, she told us she found motivation, and thousands of other women who questioned their own bodies. Connecting with these people made her feel at home,” wrote DiResta.

DiResta says it’s because of girls like this that they continue to do their job.

Contact Kayla Heffner at kheffner@reviewjournal.com. Follow Kayla on Twitter: @KaylaHeffner1