Soul Sister

Model, body activist, author, and designer Ashley Graham is a surrogate big sister to women around the world

- Sarah Garden

It’s midday. The warm glow of studio lighting fills the set, music is booming through the speakers, and the whole crew is cheering. Ashley Graham bounds over to the laptop we’re all huddled around and exclaims, “I LOVE IT!” at her final few shots. It’s been a long morning of outfit changes, heavy wigs, and high-energy poses, but she’s been laughing and dancing her way through it all.

As she starts to walk back to hair and make-up, a young model approaches her: “Ashley I just had to say hello, you’re my inspiration. You’re seriously the reason that I’m modelling now.” It’s Ameni Esseibi, who was dubbed the “region’s first plus-sized model” in the headlines last year. Despite having just spent the last four hours on a shoot, and with a tight schedule ahead of her, Ashley seems genuinely delighted by what she’s hearing and happy to stop for a few minutes.

Later, when Ameni apologetically interrupts our interview to ask Ashley to sign her magazine editorial, she’s equally charming. “Here, I can sign it really quick for you. Congratulations! That’s insane!” she says, giving her a warm hug. She says sorry for keeping me waiting and gets straight back to the question, all while having a wig taken off and a make-up applied for the next event.

“My mum always reminded me of who I was and the daughter that she had raised,” Ashley explains, talking about the tough time she had with criticism at the start of her career. “There was a moment that I wanted to leave New York City and quit everything and she was like 'no'. She said 'your body is going to change someone’s life’. I had no idea what she was talking about but she’s so prophetic, and now look, it’s happening,” she says, gesturing towards the door Ameni just left through.