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As her platform's grown, she's been called a "body-positive activist", a 21st-century term that's been described as someone working to "overcome conflicts with their bodies so they can lead happier, more productive lives." Neat definition aside, the movement was first brought to her attention via Tumblr.
"I've always struggled a ton with my body image, and I wanted to help other people not feel so ashamed about themselves. It's a completely unnecessary part of everyday life," she told us. "Seeing amazing young women [on Tumblr] who are fearless and don't care if society tells them they're not beautiful enough—they're still showing their imperfections and embracing themselves. That gave me the confidence to be in pictures, something that was out of my comfort zone."
Following the beauty on Instagram, or chatting with her on the phone, leaves you thinking that this is a girl who knows she rocks. But even she admits to still battling down days. She's learned tactics to deal with it and believes that a good defense is the best offense, cutting out gossip magazines, critique-heavy TV shows, and acquaintances who made shady comments about her body. Plus, her own social feeds went through a nice purge at some point.
"I don't follow anyone who I think is trying to sell the dream that everything is perfect. It's not, it's [based on] comparing, and I don't like it. There's so much that subconsciously affects you, and you don't even realize it."
Ferreira posing for Aerie
Of the future of modeling and the fashion industry, Ferreira is infectiously optimistic. She sees beauty ideals being challenged every day and cheers for the way that social media is exposing people to different walks of life they never could have glimpsed a decade ago. The term "plus-size" doesn't specifically bother her, though she's firm in her opinion that something it represents needs to change: "The problem is labeling—we're all just models. What the body-positive movement wants is to stop categorizing people, and to let people of all body types be able to do anything, whether they're slightly bigger than the average model or a lot bigger," she said, casually referencing the way the industry terms a size six as "plus," ignoring the fact that the average size of American women hovers between ages 12 and 14.
