“Orange Is the New Black” star Danielle Brooks wants to be a body-positive role model for the best reason

If we didn’t already have enough reasons to love actress Danielle Brooks, here’s another one: The Orange Is the New Black star, who’s a fierce (and fashionable!) body-positive advocate, wanted to see more plus-sized models. So she became one!
Don’t let her stripped down portrayal of Litchfield inmate Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson on Netflix’s popular smash hits series OITNB fool you. Whether she’s stepping out at New York Fashion Week or bringing the bling at the SAG Awards, Brooks’ glamorous awards show-ready looks stun, standing apart from her peers (even in a red carpet line-up!) with her adventurous sense of style and larger-than-life personality.
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But it’s Brooks’ commitment to increasing representation of plus-sized people in media that has us feeling all the feels. At a Netflix event in Los Angeles on Friday, Brooks embodied the body-positive ideal, strutting her stuff and calling out the lack of visibility of curvier models. “A big part of my thing is being the voice of the curves,” Brooks told ELLE.com.
And what a voice! Last year, Brooks threw some shade at TV series America’s Next Top Model Cycle 24 for not including plus-sized models in the competition — despite having plus-sized model Ashley Graham on the judging panel.
But Brooks not only talks the talk. She walks the walk, too! The catwalk, that is, stomping the runway for Christian Siriano’s Lane Bryant Collection and modeling for the collection #ThisBody campaign, too.
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For Brooks, it’s personal. As a child, the experience of growing up without role models who looked like her weighed on her, and it’s one she’d like to spare girls today.
"It's very important to be that person that I wanted to see when I was a young girl," she told ELLE.com. "I'm very grateful that I'm finally starting to get into fashion, and modeling, and being an example for young girls that are curvy."
Keep up the GREAT work, Danielle!