Sharmilah Begum
A firm believer of beauty in all forms, Sharmilah Begum started a movement, with Big is Gorgeous (BIG), to support and inspire plus size women.
Q: Can you take us back to the beginning and tell us why you started BIG?
A: I wanted to empower the plus- size women towards a healthier lifestyle and not to feel depressed about their weight. Most of them feel that life begins only when I get down to my right weight. I started BIG to tell them whatever weight you are, whatever size you are, life begins now. You start now, you start dressing up now, you start to fall in love now. Go for your dreams now, you know. I’ve seen around me too many women are too depressed about their weight issues. I literally see them go into clinical depression that’s what disturbed me. So that’s why I was thinking that I need to do something to get these women out of this depression.
Q: Can you share with us some of the experiences of discrimination that some of the women from BIG have faced?
A: One of it is because of jobs. Um, I’ve seen women got rejected for position like, um, frontline because of uniform size. You know, I’ve seen some of them 4 come for interview and immediately they were rejected. And this person actually has the personality, they have, um, I think they have the talent and all. And I personally have gone through where my ex-boss used to tell me that initially that his wife had a bit of doubt to hire me because I’m BIG. Cos to her the impression is that fat people are lazy and slow. And they’re sickly. And they’re not productive.
Q: Did any discriminatory events occur when you were younger?
A: I remember when I was in primary 3, 9 years old, I saw my friends were dancing on stage and all that. And I love dancing. I approached my teacher and I asked her, I said “ Can I join for the next concert?” And she immediately told me, “No, you’re fat. Fat girl don’t look good on stage. So that was the first time that I was faced with “You mean fat is not accepted? Fat is ugly?”. But my mom has always told me that I’m beautiful because of my size. And I’m loved because of my size. that day, it really changed my whole world. So I went back, didn’t want to eat when my mom loved to feed me. So I scolded her. I said, “You lied to me. You said being fat is beautiful.” So she said, “So you see, if you were a small baby, you would just be like the rest. You’re a star, you know. You’re a star because you’re BIG.” And then, so I went to school the next day and I know some friends who also want to be in the dance group, right? So I said, “Let’s start our own dance group.” And then…so school concert again, so we put our name in, and we got in, and we were dancing and the whole school was roaring and loving and everything. And I remember my teacher coming over to me and say “ Join our dance club, you look so good onstage.” Well, being at 9 years old, I still had that attitude and I said, “I don’t think so”.
It all started since young because of certain comments by people whom they know, people whom they respect, and they carry that with them for the longest time. And that has become an emotional setback that has caused them to overeat, a lot of unhappiness, you know. It just keeps building up. I think I could have fall into that trap too, if my mom didn’t pull me out and talked to me. And made me find that confidence. Made me understand what this was all about.
Q: What do you want to say to people who discriminate against plus-size people?
A: There are flaws in everyone. Don’t pick on one another. Be more gentle, be nicer, be more understanding, everybody has challenges. Don’t be so mean. Give more love. Speak kinder words. What have you got to lose?
Q: What is your message to plus-sized women or men out there?
A: My message is to remember not to give anyone the power to make you feel horrible. Take back the control. Feel good, feel beautiful, feel sexy, do what you want to do, regardless of size, age, whatever. Find that happiness through what you love. Something that you’re passionate about and go for it.
Watch how this confident woman and her amazing movement to empower other plus sized women:
