Five Impactful Plus Size Women Making a Difference
Girl power has reached a new level with these amazing women.
March 1st marks the beginning of Women’s History Month and with Shapely being a brand lead by women of color, we decided to highlight five impactful plus size women making a difference in the world from artist to wellness. Shapely is honored to highlight not in order of importance, swimwear designer and youth employment coordinator Elizabeth Johnson, illustrator Shelby Bergen, author and athlete, Meg Boggs, celebrity make up artist Priscilla Ono and therapist and digital content creator Amarchi N. Ukachu. We hope you enjoy these five beautiful, strong, fearless and plus size women making a difference.
Elizabeth Johnson
Elizabeth "Liz" Johnson is a Youth Employment Program Coordinator. This past summer alone, Liz helped employ over 200 youth with job opportunities both virtually and brick and mortar. In January of 2021 she started a women's empowerment non-profit organization with her five friends. This organization helps provide resources to women throughout the Chicago-Land area.
Liz is also the owner of VayKay Swimwear. At 29 years old, Liz has done a lot of traveling and like some of us she would shop each time she went on vacation. She spent days looking for swimsuits and weeks receiving them only to get a top that was too small or a bottom that was too big. She was fed up and soon after VayKay swimwear was born. Liz takes pride in the fact that her models represent all body types and strives to create swimwear that is fashionable and affordable. To learn more about Liz, check her out on Instagram. You can also visit VayKayMe to shop for her inclusive line of swimwear. Use code “VaykayShape” for 25% off.
Shelby Bergen
Shelby Bergen is an illustrator from the suburbs of Minneapolis. She uses bright colors, patterns and shapes in her illustrations. What makes Shelby impactful is how she advocates for diversity and inclusivity through her illustrations. When Shelby isn't making art, she spends her time petting soft cats, drinking coffee and reading comic books. To learn more about Shelby and her work visit her website and or connect with her on Instagram.
Meg Boggs
Meet the funny and amazing woman who jokingly wants to be strong like “b*ch” that fight bears in the forest, Meg Boggs. Meg is more than Instagram influencer with a massive following of 324K engaged men and women. Besides also being a mother and wife based in Texas, Meg believes that you can be fit at any size. Her advocacy in this area has definitely helped me personally recognize that being fit doesn’t mean I have to be skinny.
She elaborates more on her own personal journey in this area in her book, Fitness For Everybody which shares her story and includes a step-by-step workout guide. Thus, Shapely is proud to mention Meg as one of our most impactful women for her advocacy in body positivity, mental health and self-love. Meg is disrupting social norms in the fitness industry with her perspective that ones approach to fitness and nutrition should be in a manner that is supportive to your overall mental health and wellbeing. To learn, more about Meg go visit her on Instagram.
Priscilla Ono
Captivating at first site is celebrity make up artist Priscilla Ono. Many may already know Priscilla as Rihanna’s makeup artist and the global makeup artist for Fenty Beauty line but moreover. Priscilla is most deserving as one of Shapely’s impactful women for what she does when she is not working with Rihanna or Megan Thee Stallion. Priscilla is also an educator of her craft, under the self-named Priscilla Ono Academy. Where she teaches future artists how to become a master make-up artist. It’s also very refreshing to see a plus size woman, like Priscilla rise to the level of success simply by being herself. To learn more about Priscilla Ono, visit her site or follow her on Instagram.
Amarachi N. Ukachu
If you have been following Amarachi N. Ukachu as long as I have you probably have grown to see her expand outside her keen fashion and awesome cut and sew skills. Into her evolution into self care, wellness and home decor. On her Instagram, you get a little of everything including therapy, Black Lives Matter advocacy, insight into healing and plants and so much more. Her blog also supports her presence with posts on therapy and self-care resources which have been even more of need during the pandemic. In my eyes, Amarachi has been impactful for plus size women by continuing to dive deep into real issues and then offering a lighter side with her graceful approach to fashion. Go check her out if you’re looking to be visually stimulated by fashion but then grounded by her deep sense of depth and meaningful approach to self care and awareness.
This wraps up the Shapely list of most impactful women. However, we do recognize that everyday we are all making an impact in this world and that it is great to see others doing great work in their individual areas. Please share the most impactful women in your life below. We want to hear from you.
