Meet Cambria Francesca

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cambria Francesca.

Cambria, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a child, I was full of big dreams and creativity, but I was also very insecure. I was 5’8” by the time I was ten yrs old with the curves of a grown woman, and I was one of three black kids in my class growing up in Orange County, so I never felt like I fit in. Once in High School, I found myself getting into as many extracurriculars as I could while trying to figure out who I was and deal with the normal changes of a teenage girl’s body. My Sophomore year, my life took a major turn.

At 16, I woke up one night in excruciating pain like someone was stabbing me in my lower right abdomen and from that day on the pain never went away. I underwent two abdominal surgeries and was eventually diagnosed at 17 with Lupus and a Chronic Pain Disorder that doctors are unable to explain the cause of. I was homeschooled for the last year and a half of High School and fell so far behind that I wasn’t able to walk with my class at graduation and had to receive my diploma that summer.

These rapid and uncontrollable changes to my body and the blow to my self-esteem and identity as an overachiever precipitated my insecurities becoming worse and I began hating the body I was in. I decided to take a year off after High School to learn how to take care of myself with this new challenge, and I needed to reevaluate my plans for the future. After my hiatus was done, I went to college, and a photographer friend gave me the opportunity to try modeling.

Due to my lack of self-esteem, he had to convince me to be his model, but once I got in front of that camera, I became a new person. Photography and modeling honestly gave me a new lease on life and helped heal some of the pain I felt over feeling like I had no control over the body I lived in. Looking at the way he captured me, I had never seen myself look so powerful, beautiful and in control. After that, I was hooked! Realizing that a 9-5 was something my body wasn’t capable of tolerating, modeling opened a new door for me career-wise.

Unfortunately, a year into pursuing modeling my Lupus progressed, and I was put on a medication that caused me to rapidly gain weight. My insecurities reared their ugly head, and I quit modeling and fell into a depression. During that time, I was dealing with the deaths of multiple family members who suddenly passed away back to back and the brutal end of my relationship so I sunk deeper and deeper into my depression. Due to my health spiraling out of control and being unable to keep up in class, I eventually left college and ended up living in LA with my mom.

That year, I ended up in the hospital, and after having multiple seizures, I was given a medication that put me into anaphylaxis and resulted in a coma. When I woke from the coma, I realized how blessed I was to be alive and that I couldn’t live my life in fear anymore. This body was the only one I was going to have, and I couldn’t throw my dreams away simply because I didn’t look how I used to look. Once I was released, I began researching plus size modeling and worked on getting myself to a healthier place where I could pursue my dreams.

As of 2015, I’ve been working in the industry shooting for companies like Target, Ashley Stewart and Jouer Cosmetics and using my story to help inspire others.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely been rough. I think the hardest part for me, honestly, was letting go of the plans and goals I had set for myself as an academic and forgiving myself for not being healthy enough to pursue those dreams I had worked so hard at for so long. Allowing myself to have new bigger dreams was something I struggled with. Having gotten sick at such a young age, I was unable to build a safety net for myself financially so choosing to pursue modeling when I had very little money, and no full-time work experience was a major challenge.

When you are starting in the fashion industry, you have to spend money to get yourself set up. You need photos, wardrobe, hair, and makeup and when you have no portfolio you have nothing to show for yourself, so unless you luck out and find a photographer willing to do it for free, you have to pay to start building your port. Even signed models pay a lot of things out of pocket and tend to have jobs on the side to cover expenses.

It can be very glamorous looking from the outside, but this is work just like any other job, and it takes dedication and sacrifice. Modeling with a disability is one of my main struggles. I love my job because I have way more freedom to decide how long I work when I work and what I do, but when you have a physical illness, it can take its toll. Learning how to advocate for myself and be vocal about my needs and limitations has been a journey and learning my body’s limitations because every day is different.

What I can do one day, might be totally different from the next. Self-care is extremely important. As a plus-size model, recognition has also been a struggle for me. I’m a size 18 model, and there aren’t as many jobs looking for plus size models and especially sizes over a 14/16. I’m hopeful that as the fashion industry progresses and brands realize that they are missing out on a huge market that this will change and I will have more job opportunities in the next year.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am a plus size Fit and Print and Commercial model. I am a size 18 (sometimes 20 depending on the brand and their measurements), and I model whatever the client pays me to model be it clothing, shoes, cosmetics, accessories, food, or a location. As a Fit model, I work closely with the design team or clothing manufacturer to check the fit, drape and visual appearance of a garment on a “real” body.

For print and commercial, I have been getting a lot of body positive campaigns and underwear/lingerie and swimsuit work. I would say at this point in my career that is where I specialize and I am very proud of that because I receive a lot of feedback from both women and men telling me how inspired they are to see a woman of my size and body type wearing lingerie and bathing suits and representing for them.

I don’t have a flat stomach, and that seems to resonate with people who feel like they aren’t seeing models with their body type modeling plus size clothing. I am proud to be able to give them a better idea of what clothes will look like on their curves and to just make them feel represented.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Wow, that is hard! I cherish so many of my experiences, but I would have to say my proudest moment was when I was out one day and a woman who follows my work recognized me. She stopped me and was so excited and asked if I was Cambria Francesca.

When I said yes, she took my hands and told me how my work had changed her. She also suffers from Lupus and is a plus size woman, and she told me how much she had hated herself and her body and that my work, both my modeling and my activism has helped her heal and changed the way she sees herself.

We stood there on the side of the street crying and hugging each other. To be able to make someone feel beautiful and accepted who had only ever felt ugly and neglected before… that’s why I do what I do. That was the most rewarding experience of my life.

Contact Info:

• Email: Cambriaplusmodel@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cambriaplusmodel
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cambriaplusmodel
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/cambriapsmodel

Image Credit:
Melanie Pappas, Dali Ma, Chelsea Hughes, Fátima Ayala, Naomi Yura

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.