About
Tess Holliday is one of the most recognizable faces of the body-positivity movement. Born Ryann Maegen Hoven on July 5, 1985, in Laurel, Mississippi, she turned a lifelong love of fashion into a groundbreaking modeling career despite standing 5-foot-5 and wearing a U.S. size 24 – measurements long dismissed by traditional agencies. In 2015 London-based Milk Model Management signed her, calling her the first curve model above a size 20 on a mainstream roster. Today, Holliday is a model, author, activist, and sought-after speaker, known globally for challenging beauty rules with her viral hashtag #EffYourBeautyStandards and a cover of Cosmopolitan UK that won “Cover of the Year.”
Before Fame
Growing up was anything but easy. Holliday’s childhood was thrown into chaos when her mother was shot and left partially paralyzed; the family bounced between relatives more than 40 times before she turned ten. School offered little relief: classmates mocked her weight, pale skin, and life in a trailer behind her grandparents’ home. By 17 she left high school for a GED, determined to craft her own future. At 15 she drove four hours for a plus-size casting call in Atlanta and was told she was both too short and too big for catalog work. The rejection stung, yet it sparked the grit that would later fuel her rise.
Trivia
- Hashtag that became a movement: In 2013 Holliday typed “#EffYourBeautyStandards” under an outfit post. The phrase exploded into a community for millions who felt sidelined by fashion’s narrow lens,
- History-making contract: Her 2015 signing with Milk put a size 22 body on agency boards for the first time, proving sample size bias isn’t a career ceiling.
- Cosmo controversy: When her Cosmopolitan UK cover landed in 2018 critics claimed it “glorified obesity.” Holliday fired back, saying representation is health in action.
- TEDx voice: In 2024 she headlined TEDxLausanneWomen, sharing how inclusive imagery can rewrite self-worth for kids who never see themselves in magazines.
- Next chapter: An illustrated middle-grade book, Take Up Space, Y’all, arrives August 2025 and urges tweens to celebrate differences early.
Family Life
Holliday became a mother at twenty when her son Rylee was born. A decade later she welcomed Bowie Juniper with Australian photographer Nick Holliday, whom she wed in July 2015 and divorced five years later. Parenting two boys ten years apart brings its own comedy: she jokes that movie night can feel like a “war of the worlds” when one child wants superheroes and the other vintage horror. She has spoken publicly about postpartum depression after both births and now partners with Postpartum Support International to raise awareness of maternal mental health, reminding followers that asking for help is strength, not shame.
Associated With
Community has always powered Holliday’s work. She joined blogger-models Gabi Gregg and Nadia Aboulhosn in the joyful “#everyBODYisflawless” video, shimmying to Beyoncé’s “Flawless” while proving fashion fun isn’t size-restricted. Brands trying to widen their customer lens regularly hire her as an inclusivity consultant; H&M, Pinterest, and Benefit Cosmetics have all tapped her insight. On social media she swaps encouragement with athletes such as Maya Gabeira and fellow activists on the TEDx circuit, forming a cross-industry squad that applauds all bodies. And when online trolls claimed in 2024 that she lies about wearing a size 24, she turned the moment into a masterclass on digital resilience—waving her clothing tag on TikTok, thanking haters for boosting algorithm reach, and reminding supporters that confidence is learned, not granted.
