Denise Bidot

“You're beautiful and you should feel good in your skin, and nobody should tell you otherwise.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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 actually moved to L.A. in 2005, and I wanted to be an actress.”

“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.”

“My daughter is with me 90 percent of the time and when I travel to Europe her dad is able to watch her.”

“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.”

“As a very curvy woman, jeans are always a hard find.”

“I think it's about time that we represent all women on the catwalk because that is a part of fashion.”

“Very early on I knew I wanted to be in entertainment.”

“When I started, fashion for curvy women was very ugly.”

“What has helped me the most to navigate the business side of the modeling world was having open conversations with colleagues. When I first started out, I asked other models about compensation and started learning more about the business and uncovering the truth. Having these open dialogues helped me understand more about the business side.”

“You can be curvy and still be absolutely flawless.”

“I was raised to believe that sex was for marriage.”

“Plus-size girls are now doing beauty campaigns and hair campaigns and so many different things that for so long we fought for and wanted.”

“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.”

“I think if they did go ahead and include a plus-sized angel, I think it would be such a huge statement from Victoria's Secret especially cause for so long, as a curvy woman, I haven't been able to shop there, able to fit in a lot of their stuff.”

“There's no way in the world I would have thought about opening New York Fashion Week or walking in London.”