Growing up, I had my mom to look up to; J. Lo and Marilyn Monroe were notable curvy women. But I didn't have anyone with cellulite or back fat telling me they didn't care.

As a professional selfie taker, I know my angles. And I know how to look 20 lbs. heavier and 20 lbs. lighter. If Instagram wants to tell me I've lost 60 lbs. in one week, then damn, I look good.

I remember being told by my very first photographer that if I lost weight, and I was a skinny model, it would do wonders for my career. My mum got really defensive - 'I don't think we will be doing that, thank you so much, goodbye.'

Back in Nebraska, I was known as the fat model - the girl who was pretty for a big girl. My body, like my confidence, has been picked apart, manipulated, and controlled by others who didn't necessarily understand it.

The Walking Dead' has allowed me to experience success and remain myself and develop some of the closest bonds, both professionally and personally, that I could ever have imagined. It's taught me a lot of life lessons.

I get sent a lot of scripts which feature him as a kind of all-purpose Victorian literary character and really understand little, if anything, about him, his life or his books.

I think politics today is all about false choices: You can have a robust energy economy and a challenged environment, or a great environment and no economy. That's a false choice. You can do both.

Starting in music, where I get a chance to connect with the lyrics of a song, I learned so much about performing on stage and connecting to your audience and to what you're singing about. Singing is very emotional. Every song has its own purpose.