The Inaugural Issue 2019:
Hello, new friends. Welcome to the inaugural issue of Curvicality magazine. After seven months of planning, our team’s dream to create body-positive media for plus-size women has finally become a reality. Right off the bat, we know you’ve got two questions: What is Curvicality, and how did Curvicality even start?
Last winter, my best friend Andrea and I had a long conversation about our mutual frustrations with a lack of knowledge about plus-size living. You see, we come from a mid-sized town in the Midwest where just about every major department store has closed. We have very few options other than our favorite mall finds, which is frustrating when you don’t know how online brands fit, or what they offer.
That conversation sparked a long series of conversations about fashion. Where do other plus-size women shop? Which brands work best for our very different body types? What brands haven’t we heard of? How do we translate runway fashion into plus-size style? And, where can we find what we see in fashion magazines in a wide range of sizes that fit curvy bodies sizes 10, or 14, depending on how you define plus-size, and up?
It didn’t stop there. This research led to connections with hundreds of women around the country, and in some cases, around the globe. The Curvicality team began to explore how other plus-size women learn to love and embrace their
bodies, our concerns that the media usually only portrays women that look nothing like us (who, may I add, are usually Photoshopped), and how this reality makes us all feel.
With that, the body image portion of our platform was born. Media shouldn’t make you feel bad. It should make you feel celebrated, honored and worthy of everything your heart desires. That seed of desire formed our core value of providing body-positive media for every woman in the world who wants to join us.
From there, our team of just a few people began to grow. Collectively, we branched out into exploring fitness, dating, marriage, relationships, sex, opinion and lifestyle. We also started interviewing women about how they approach life. That’s how the “Your Stories” section of our magazine, and platform, evolved. We want to share your stories of triumph in a society that tells us that our bodies are anything but worthy.
We hope you are as excited as we are. Our goal is to change the landscape of the media by providing articles for and about real women just like you (and me). Our pictures aren’t digitally edited other than to brighten or tone backgrounds. Everything that you see and read is 100 percent transparent, created by real women for real women.
We’re starting with a small but mighty team of employees (and our newly formed advisory board) that will continue to grow. The thing we want you to know is that we’re all about being an interactive community. If you have an idea for a story, share it with us. On behalf of our entire team, we are 100 percent accessible to you. There are no secrets here, just a collective love of positive body image, fashion and happy living.
That said, we do need your help. Please share our magazine with all of your like-minded friends. And if you have a connection with a plus-size influencer, celebrity or brand, please reach out to us and help us form that relationship. If you have a story that you would like to write, reach out.
Thank you so much for your support. We love and adore each and every one of you. After all, you’re what this effort is all about. Here’s to your Curvicality!
XO,
Mary Beth Cooper, Editor and CEO of Curvicality
P.S. Remember when I said we are 100 percent accessible? You can email me directly at: Marybeth@Curvicality.com. And we’ll share the emails of the rest of our team in our next issue, along with a special bio page so that you can get to know every single one of them. We’re starting small, but we sure are growing.
