Over the past year, we've seen plus-size models make some incredible achievements in the fashion and beauty industries. Last year, when Women's Running Magazine put plus-size model Erica Schenk on the cover, they made headlines for the inspiring message the cover story sent, and now they've done it again.
The April 2016 issue features Nadia Aboulhosn on the cover, an empowering plus-size model who's really into fitness. Aboulhosn runs three to four times a week and does bodyweight training and exercises at home whenever she gets the chance.
While the fashion blogger is considered a plus-size model, she has revealed that she does not like to use that phrase to describe herself "because she believes it creates a binary where one type of body is considered 'normal' or 'standard' and anyone who is bigger than that is considered not normal."
Typically on fitness magazine's, we see super thin women with rock hard abs and barely any body fat, but just because Aboulhosn is plus-size, does not mean she's not healthy and in shape.
"It's because society sees fit people as being smaller," she explained. "People don't think my body type is healthy...I'm just trying to normalize what should have already been seen as normal...Even if it's making people feel uncomfortable right now, I hope they take away that this [body type diversity] is what normal is going to be eventually."
She was not originally supposed to be on the cover, but once they saw how incredible her personality was, they knew she was the right choice. "We originally selected Nadia for our feature on fitness/fashion influencers, but we loved her energy so much, we knew we had to put her front and center on our cover," said Women's Running Editor-in-Chief Jessica Sebor.
"Thank you to Women's running Mag for choosing me," Aboulhosn wrote on Instagram. "When I got the email I still didn't believe it was going to happen. I for sure thought last minute something was going to happen and I wouldn't be on the cover just solely off the fact that things have turned wrong for me so much of my life when I'm almost about to have something, I get disappointed or let down. I'm never satisfied and feel like I could always be doing more but seeing my cover made me calm down and enjoy this moment that's such a milestone for me and my career. Thank you especially to Jessica Sebor. You amaze me. It's so important to feel good about yourself."
Last August, when Schenk graced the cover, the New York-based model was thrilled to be making this type of difference in the fitness industry. "Women of all sizes deserve to be praised for good health and have presence in the media," she said at the time. "Our generation has taken leaps and bounds towards less judgment and more acceptances. It makes me proud to see people responding positively to a curvy and proud woman who wants to lead a healthy lifestyle. The cover proves anyone can run...Don't be afraid to be curvy and do what you love. You are not alone."
"There's a stereotype that all runners are skinny, and that's not the case," Sebor said of Schenk's cover. "Runners come in all shapes and sizes. You can go to any race finish line - from 5K to a marathon - and see that. It was important for us to celebrate that. I think that every women goes to the magazine rack and sometimes feels like she can't see herself in the cover images. We wanted our readers to feel like they could see themselves in our cover."
