DANICA MARJANOVIC: You are beautiful, if
you have stretch marks. You are beautiful, if you have stomach rolls. You are beautiful,
if you have cellulite; like that doesn’t determine your level of respect from others.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: My name is Danica Marjanovic
and I run a body positivity Instagram account.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: I started my journey of body positivity probably about a year ago.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: I blog about my body because
I’ve suffered quite low self-esteem my entire life, pretty much. It’s a really strange,
almost embarrassing feeling to stand in front of a mirror, naked and say, “I’m beautiful.”
COMM: Danica has battled with body dysmorphia
disorder from a young age, becoming obsessed with her appearance and weight.
COMM: In her late teens, she lost a considerable
amount of weight – but never felt happy about her body.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: I’ve always had a curvy
body so I think that’s what also played into kind of like my body dysmorphia that
even when I was so slim, I was probably about size 10 on top. To me that was still not good enough.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: So, when I look at photos from back then, I can remember the exact kind
of like emotion that I felt at that certain time. And I just remember being really unhappy
and really miserable.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: Yes, I am self-obsessed but I’m very self-critical.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: I went through a really
nasty break up, which kind of brought to the surface a lot of mental health issues that
I’ve been like battling with for years that I had never really got the right help. I had
to quit my job, I had to move back home, into my mum’s house.
COMM: Danica’s break-up acted as a catalyst
to start her on a new journey of body positivity, acceptance and self-love.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: I wanted to start posting
about body positivity online. I kind of thought to myself, like, what was the scariest thing
I could do that would challenge these insecurities that I had about myself.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: My blog helps me deal with
my mental health firstly, because well showing my body obviously is helping my self-esteem,
which is a huge impact on my anxiety and my depression. I kind of see it as like my online diary.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: The comments I receive thankfully are predominantly very positive,
saying how I am helping them or how they have never thought about being confident in themselves
and this is helping them because of this.
ANNA MARJANOVIC: Danica has changed in that
she is still really starting to realise her inner confidence.
ANNA MARJANOVIC: I love her Instagram, I check it, as a big sister I check it every day.
She is sharing a really great positive message.
COMM: After searching for body positive inspiration online, Danica has stumbled upon a body confidence
modelling event and decided to enter.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: So, Ms Curvaceous is the audition I’m doing tomorrow. It’s
a modelling competition based for women sized 12 and up. And it’s just all about encouraging
woman to feel confident, if they want to get into the modelling industry. You know, I’m
not a model; I’ve never done a catwalk. I’m going to have to be walking in front
of judges. That alone is going to be really, you know, big deal for me. So, I’m just
generally excited to go to the audition.
THEO ILORI: Started Ms Curvaceous UK initially because we wanted to represent curvier women
within the fashion industry. This was in 2010-11 when you really didn’t see any plus size
models. As years went on, realised how much of an impact it was actually having on people’s
life in terms of their confidence.
THEO ILORI: At the auditions, we want someone with a lot of character, we want someone who
is able to catwalk and to pose but we understand people are doing it for the first time. So
really, it’s about how well they have taken on what they have been taught today.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: I think of just learning
to like own it. Theo who has been speaking is so, like, well equipped with everything
that it takes to just own your confidence and it’s just amazing like anyone who is
struggling with like body positivity, this is kind of like the ideal thing that you should be doing.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: It just like, it’s so nerve wrecking, someone like analysing
your like, entire body like that, because obviously that is like what I struggled with.
But I’m really proud of myself for doing it.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: Two years ago, I couldn’t
walk down the street without having a panic attack. So from coming from that level
to being able to walk in front of people and being proud of my figure.
DANICA MARJANOVIC: To now be up to UK size
16, it’s possible to learn to love yourself at any size.