Quotes from Iskra Lawrence

I've been trying to be the model that I wanted to see when I was a teenager, looking through magazines and not seeing myself, looking at pictures that were so edited.

I had a taste for this fashion industry that I loved and wanted to be a part of.

You are good enough as you, so delete that Facetune app and step away from that really weird filter that makes you look smoother than Craig David.

Like virtually all of the women I know, I spent my teenage years battling with my body and feeling I wasn't good enough. A lot of that negativity is because I was pursuing a career in modeling and was told countless times that my body was too big. My hips and thighs were too wide.

I want to be the girl that's real and show other girls that you don't have to have flawless skin or the 'perfect' body - because that's just not real.

You don't always need to be this flawless female with amazing skin and done hair. Perfect doesn't exist.

On a night out, I can feel unstoppable with an eyeliner wing and a bold lip. But I also love that I can still feel beautiful and confident without any of that.

My thighs are great!

If your girlfriend is saying, 'Ugh, look at my stretch marks, look at my rolls,' don't say, 'Yeah, I hate my thighs, too.' Say, 'No, you look really cute today - and I feel good, too!'

When I joined Instagram, I began sharing my raw photos along with my raw and honest thoughts and feelings.

My confidence comes from the realisation that, actually, the best you can be is you, learning to accept who I was, what I wanted, and that I was more than my body.

Oh my goodness - Zac Efron has great abs.

I remember I took an editorial, and I was so excited. I got the pictures back, and I looked in the magazine, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh!' My arms were half their size, and I had a thigh gap magically, and all these crazy things. My family went out and tried to find my pictures in the magazines, but no one could recognize me.

There is a way to disagree with someone, but it doesn't have to be threatening.

If you start talking to yourself in a loving way you're going to feel so much better, and your life is going to be so much happier.

I spent so many years being repeatedly rejected and told I wasn't good enough. It took a huge toll on my self-esteem until I realized I am more than my body and that, actually, our beauty comes from diversity.

I refuse to let something as insignificant as a size or number on a scale determine how I feel about myself. I am grateful for my body, my health, and the life that I have, and no arbitrary number should have any impact on that.

I was a 'straight-size' model from 13 to 16, but I was eventually dropped by the agency because my hips were too big.

Girls shouldn't be worried about their cellulite or their rolls. Or anything that makes us real.

Instead of waking up and worrying about your thigh gap, wake up and worry about what you're going to achieve today. What can you do, and how can you give back?

I never want to shame anyone. I love going to the gym, and I feel proud and fit. That, for me, is aspirational. There are things you can do in a very healthy, natural way. This is how I work with my body to make it the best I can be. That's the shape that I have, just toned and tight. That's my preference.

Words and images deeply impact the way we view our bodies, and the consequences can be very damaging.

I think unretouched images are even more beautiful.

After so many years of being rejected and having my body scrutinized... for Aerie to come along and basically say, 'We accept you. We don't care about your size.' To see those pictures on a Times Square billboard, and they were completely unretouched, I just was like, 'Wow. I finally feel good enough!'