The Power Issue • April 2017 20
From an early age , it was obvious Pantea Aradatmandi , or ‘ Pan Envy ’ had something special . The Washington , D . C . native grew up attending acting and modeling classes as a young girl . From there it progressed to dance , voice lessons , pageants and appearances in indie commercials . A move from the west coast to Toronto resulted in projects more centered on fit modeling than beauty pageants .
“ Fit modeling was great , it got me gigs for companies like Hot Topic , Urban Outfitters , opportunities for traveling to California for catalog shoots and so on . But it got to a point where I was being pressured to ‘ fit the mold ’ of what they wanted . The agency was saying ‘ you have to lose this many pounds or this many sizes ’ and it was so much pressure .”
The badgering that accompanied her work as a fit model resulted in an eating disorder and ultimately led to anorexia . It was a tough battle to get back to a healthy size - which many now would consider full figured . Then , roughly seven years ago , the world of plus modeling called and Pan hasn ’ t looked back since .
“ I like the current trend of brands actually using real plus size models for their ads . It ’ s nice to see people who don ’ t fit the 8 - 12 size demographic modeling . It only makes sense to accurately represent the consumers who will be buying the clothes .”
Pan says she ’ s received a mountain of positive feedback from prospective models who have seen her and were inspired to pursue their own careers .
“ It started slowly , I began using the hashtag ‘ curvy ’ and I ’ ve been doing a lot of freelance modeling . I had some bad experiences with agencies and since I ’ ve been freelancing I enjoy my work so much more . It ’ s nice to have the freedom to go to a casting call and not have an agency after me about what I ’ m eating or whether I ’ m going to the gym or not .”
The time Pan is saving by not dealing with agencies is being dedicated to several personal undertakings that are close to her heart . One of these endeavors is her body empowerment movement ‘# LuckyToBeCurvy ’, seen on Instagram . Her motivation for creating # LuckyToBeCurvy came from some of her experiences about trying to conform to beauty standards .
“ We ’ re all different . We all carry our weight differently . I want to show that you can love your body and not care what other people think . I want to create awareness on social media about this issue . When I first started it I talked with my mom about my challenges as a child , being chubby for a while then skinny then back to chubby . She said ‘ you know , we ’ re lucky to be curvy ’. And that ’ s where the name came from .”
She says the reaction has been greater than she ’ d ever anticipated , inspiring others to post when they wouldn ’ t have and sharing their stories about rejection , insecurity and bullying . She says the positive feedback has motivated her to continue .
“… I talked with my challenges a chubby ... She s we ’ re lucky to be