A couple of years back, Twinkle decided to rise above stereotypes, and start following her passion. In a few months, Twinkle Shikha Gupta became an influencer, a body positivity personality, and a plus-size model on Instagram. She is also a certified fashion stylist. To know more about her life, CitySpidey had a live session where we talked about her life and journey as a plus-size model.
Says Twinkle, “I have been a little overweight from my very childhood. A lot of problems I faced while growing up stemmed from this.” Twinkle had a love for makeup. While all the other kids used to play Doctor Doctor or other games, she used to play makeup games. But she never really found the courage to do anything about it because of the feeling of worthlessness that society had imbibed on her. Even as a kid, she faced a lot of body shaming.
From the beginning, Twinkle faced a lot of backlash because of her weight even when she used to go out with her family. In society, she kept hearing things like who would marry you. Twinkle felt that just because of her weight, her talents and qualifications were ignored.
While in her school years, she was good at studies and passed with a good score in her final year. She went on to graduate in Political Science Hons.from Delhi University. But during her graduation, she realised that this wasn't her calling. She didn't want a future in that field, so she pursued professional certifications in makeup and fashion along with graduation.
Before trying out for makeup and fashion, Twinkle decided to try out for plus-size modelling. While she was at it, she got many offers from photographers and pageants which made her uncomfortable. She soon realised that the people she was working with did not have a positive attitude towards people who are overweight. And that is when she knew that body positivity isn't about wearing certain types of clothes but rather feeling comfortable in one's own skin. “I realised that my art and knowledge are enough to show my talent and confidence to the world. Then I decided that I would use the money that I had earned for the pageants for my styling course.”
When Twinkle saw her friends struggling with similar insecurities, she knew that she had to do something, to show everyone that size, colour, and hair do not matter if you have the will to do something with your whole heart and mind.
Today Twinkle is not only a well-known personality on Instagram but also on other social media apps. She is a certified professional makeup artist. She still faces comments about her size regularly, but she chooses to ignore them. She is glad that many plus size clothing brands are coming into the market and that it is a gradual change. But, she wishes that one day the clothes available for the regular-sized models will be available for plus size models too.
Twinkle does not believe that a person should only pursue one thing in their lives. She is doing everything she wants and knows that there is still a long way to go.
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