SHE'S made a name for herself on social media for flaunting her size 18 body to inspire other women to love their curves.
Content creator Izzy Nicholls who is from Worcestershire regularly shares snaps of herself in lingerie and bikinis with her 338k Instagram followers.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, Izzy revealed what it's really like to be a plus-size model and how she got there.
24-year-old Izzy first started posting fashion content online during the pandemic, and her account found the right crowd with many women praising the model for her body-positive mindset.
Despite Instagram being a positive community for Izzy, she reveals that other platforms are not so kind and often result in trolls leaving nasty comments that she refuses to pay attention to.
She says: "I'm someone that doesn't read it because I don't want to absorb that energy. I don't even I don't want to read it because it's not an opinion that I'm you know, really interested in."
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"There's nothing you can say to them at all. I can't give them the time of day. So I just, I say nothing," the model adds.
Despite the nasty comments, Izzy's self-confidence has skyrocketed and her modelling career has taken off, posing for lingerie brand Ann Summers, she was jetted off to South Africa to shoot.
To top it off, Izzy has also helped other plus-size women feel more confident in their own skin.
She reveals: "I do have some lovely women message me.
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4"A woman recently said to me that I'm the reasoning that she feels like she can wear sexy lingerie as a bigger woman (thanks to her campaign with Ann Summers)."
Despite her modelling career taking off, Izzy recalls not everyone believed in her dream.
Before the lockdown, Izzy was working as a holiday rep when she told her colleagues what she really wanted to do.
Izzy recalls: "We sat down for dinner and my manager said what does everyone want to do with their life? As you know, working abroad doing this travelling isn't forever.
"That was just before lockdown and just before my Instagram was sort of doing well, and I said, Oh, I feel like I would maybe like to be a plus-size model one day.'
"She looked at me and she went 'Don't do that.' She went sorry you definitely couldn't do that.
"I remember being sat at the table and I said 'Oh okay', and the girl next to her said, 'Oh, yeah, she's always right about these things. You should listen to her.'
"I just remember thinking 'I would never say that if someone told me something.' Because you can absolutely achieve and what I've learned being in this industry, if you want to do something, you can absolutely do it."
Izzy's self-love journey has come a long way and now loves her tummy so much that it's her favourite accessory.
She says: "My number one is that I do really like my smile but then also I love my little tummy.
"I use it to accessorise my outfits as well. I just love the way it looks."
"Like in underwear, I think it looks really nice. Really cute. But I know that the massive trend at the moment is sort of wearing low jeans and low skirts. And I love wearing it with that because I think that the lil tummy looks really cute," she adds.
Izzy said that she never felt that way about her stomach a few years ago and puts it all down to self-love and her growing positive Instagram community.
She continued: "I'm sort of like discovering this whole body-positive culture that has only developed in recent years.
"It was never around when I was at school. I don't think I saw a plus-size model when I was at school. And I remember the first time I saw one being really shocked and thinking I could definitely do that after I saw it."
We all know social media can have a negative effect on our mental health, and Izzy encourages people to make sure their feed is uplifting and positive.
"You want to balance out the negative noise with positive noise so surround yourself with positive voices on social media," she says.
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"Look for positive people, people who practice self-love, and people who sort of encourage you to be positive because it makes such a massive difference."
Izzy ensures her social media is a place of positivity and confidently posts snaps of her body,but she still has her down days which she counteracts with seven tips to maintain a happy mindset.
Izzy’s seven top tips for a positive mindset
Positive affirmations.
Compliment yourself and others.
Surround yourself with positivity.,
Focus on the things you like about yourself.
Stop comparing yourself to others.
No negative self-talk.
Absorb body-positive messages.
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