Learn to be body-positive

Leah Mieli has a passion for health, and combined with her new-found hobby as a “curve model”, she is inspiring others to fall in love with themselves and become body-positive.

She may only be 18, but local TAFE fitness student Ms Mieli has a modest heart, using her growing modelling image as a platform to share her message.

Ms Mieli said she accidentally fell into modelling when her pictures gained attention on social media as part of her own mission to become body-confident.

“I had my first photo shoot with Lata Wright purely for myself as a I saw it as a way of looking at myself and with my flaws in a different way,” she said.

“I loved them.

“The pictures were for me at that time and they brought up my confidence and it was a step into loving me again.

“I had no goal of making it into a career, more just a hobby, but I loved how vocal I got to be about it, speaking my mind and bringing up more conversations on body-positivity.”

Ms Mieli wants to be the first curve model who is also a personal trainer and prove you don’t need to have a six-pack to be classified as fit.

When she finishes her Certificate IV in Fitness at the end of this year, she plans to partake in specialised study focusing on post-partum and pregnant women.

“I then want to open up my own studio helping women to learn how to exercise after pregnancy and how to take care of themselves the correct way,” she said.

For the moment, she is building up her portfolio and entering the Australian Supermodel of the Year competition in the new category of curve model.

Albany City Motors is sponsoring her for the competition, and she is looking for local retailers to collaborate with on the catwalk.

“All I hope is that I get to be more vocal about what I think and about body-positivity,” she said.

“I also hope that I’ll get noticed by a company to scout me, but it’s definitely not a priority.”

As for sharing her message, she said she recommended photo shoots to anyone needing a confidence boost.

“Learn to love food, see it as a fuel and a pleasure — after all food is really amazing and so many people are scared of it,” she said.