JERRI

Bullies, beauty blueprints and breaking new ground: How Jerri Curve is doing it all.

A 32-year-old mother of two, plus size model and modelling agency owner, Jerri Curve, proves that the adage "dynamite comes in small packages" is valid.

Shorter than the average model, the 5 ft 4 in (162 cm) Jerri says her journey is proof that ceilings in the modelling industry can be broken.

Jerri was first spotted by a Ms Curvaceous scout while walking in a park with her daughter and initially didn't have the confidence to enter the competition.

Today, her modelling catalogue features top brands such as Spencer's, River Island and ASOS. She also runs a children's modelling agency, JLH Arts Agency.

Looking at her confidence, achievements and success over the last decade, I can't imagine that stunning plus size model, entrepreneur and mother of two, Jerri Curve was once a young girl with low self-esteem from bullying.

Growing up in the English countryside, she explains that the area she grew up in, where she also attended boarding school, lacked cultural and ethnic diversity.

"I was probably one of only two black children in the whole town. And I did suffer a lot from bullying. I went through some pretty horrible stuff at boarding school. And I was always scared of having children if they would see the same, and sadly, they did."

Jerri reveals that seven years ago, she found her eldest daughter, Navaeah, scrubbing herself in the bathtub to remove the colour of her skin and was horrified to learn that her child was experiencing the same kind of bullying she, too, once had to deal with.

Realising that the bullying had traumatised Navaeah, leaving her self-identity in tatters, Jerri then resorted to taking her daughter out of school and opted to give her home-schooling and use this as an opportunity to rebuild her daughter's self-esteem.

Then one day, while out for a walk with her Navaeah, an opportunity for Jerri to work on her self-esteem snuck up on her. It was someone from the Ms Curvaceous confidence-building workshop and plus size modelling competition.

"They asked if I had thought about doing the competition. And I was like, 'No, definitely not like it's not something I've even considered. I don't think I've even looked in the mirror for the last two years.' I didn't like myself. But my daughter was like, 'Oh, mommy, you're beautiful. Like, you could do it.'"

Navaeah then took the flyer from the Ms Curvaceous representative and kept it in her pocket, while Jerri tried to think nothing more of it.

But like her mother, when Navaeah has her eyes set on something, she knows how to see it through. With her daughter in her ear about the competition, a new seed of hope was planted in Jerri's mind. Now interested in the possibilities ahead, Jerri turned to her own mother for advice on whether or not she should enter:

"‘How can you show her how to love herself when you don't love yourself?’ My mom said you've got to be the kind of person you want your children to be. So at that point, I said, ‘Well, I guess if I'm going to do it, I will have to dive in.’"

And just like that, Jerri took part in the Ms Curvaceous competition to be a positive role model to her two daughters.

"I wasn't expecting anything to come from it. I thought I would leave there with more confidence and maybe a few friends. So I went along to the audition, and it was pretty amazing to be around lots of like-minded women. When I entered, I was nervous, but I left with a spring in my step," Jerri says warmly, remembering her feelings on the day. 

Jerri adds that she also remembers feeling like, if nothing else, she could at least tell her daughters that she attended the modelling auditions.

Then one day, soon after the auditions, she got a call from Ms Curvaceous telling her she had made it to the next round of the competition. She would eventually compete as a finalist.

"Although I didn't win that year, I feel like I've gained some of the most life-changing experiences from the whole event. It didn't turn me into the next supermodel, however, I had a 10-year career in modelling. I got my first international cover in New York for Curvaceous Redemption magazine within the first four years," Jerri says.

One of her most significant accomplishments was being named the Best International Model of 2015, an accolade she bagged as one of the shortest models on every runway she graced.

She believes she could only do it because her focus was more on doing what she loved than being like everyone else. Today, she offers similar advice to aspiring models:

"I think you should find what's relatable about yourself. And, you know, have that confidence to realise that although the industry may not have a door for you, you should be ready to break down doors. And don't let anybody stop you."

Although Jerri models less these days, owing to being diagnosed with a neurological condition in 2018, she says she follows her advice and isn't letting the disease or anything else stop her from realising her dreams.

"I think I laugh about it because there are quite a few things they say you can't be when you're a model, and I tick a lot of the boxes. But even with my children's agency, if there isn't a door open for our models, we will go and open those doors."

She reveals her plans include making the modelling industry more diverse across a broad spectrum and further states that she intends to use conditions to educate and lobby for the modelling industry to become more inclusive of those with disabilities.

With her youngest daughter, Tiani, being autistic, she believes it’s imperative to advocate for more diversity in the modelling industry.

"My children are now actresses, and they work in TV and theatre and film, and my youngest is autistic. And we always thought, you know, there is room for diversity within the industry. Still, go out there and push the boundaries and just make it known that everybody's worthy of being able to work within the industry. There's enough room for everyone, most definitely," she concludes.