Growing up in the 80s, it felt like I was taught to hate myself and be ashamed of my body, thanks in large part to TV shows and women’s fashion magazines that idealized a very specific (read: thin) body type. And then, around 2013, I discovered the “body positivity” movement through online spaces like LiveJournal, Tumblr, and Twitter. That discovery was pivotal for me — not just because of what I learned, but also because of who I met. I found a community, one I’ve remained a part of since then. Almost 10 years later, it was through these spaces that I met journalist, community builder, and newly minted author of The Power of Plus, Gianluca Russo. Through the depths of the Internet, we found one another and bonded, both as members of the plus-size community and as writers living through the social media evolution of body acceptance and fat activism.
By that point, brands like Dove and Aerie had made decisions to use models of all sizes and abilities in their advertising campaigns, increasingly more TV shows were debuting featuring plus-size leads, and models like Tess Holliday and Ashley Graham were gracing the covers of mainstream fashion magazines. Fresh out of college, Russo was relatively new to the media and fashion industries, but he was consistently pushing the boundaries for something more. In a short period of time, Russo established himself as a voice to be heard, making an appearance on Project Runway, sitting front-row at New York Fashion Week, landing a column on fat discrimination in NYLON, and pushing the fashion industry to engage in difficult conversations when it came to plus-size bodies. While reporting on topics like fatphobia at work and the lack of menswear in plus, Russo also built his own virtual community (co-founded by fellow journalist Shammara Lawrence), named The Power of Plus, that’s grown to more than 15,000 people so far.
