In a world that too usually reduces plus measurement visibility to who we see in entrance of the digicam, Curvy Boss Highlight exists to widen the lens.
This collection celebrates the dynamic, good, audacious plus measurement professionals making issues transfer, shake, and shift throughout industries. Founders. Executives. Stylists. Educators. Creatives. Change brokers.
As a result of illustration is not only about being seen in campaigns. It’s about seeing ourselves in management.
We are saying it actually because it stays true, we can’t be what we can’t see.
And this week’s highlight reminds us precisely why this collection issues.
While you consider style and leisure in Atlanta, one identify carries weight, historical past, and simple influence: Paula Whittle.
And actually, “trailblazer” virtually feels too small.
For almost 20 years, Atlanta Worldwide Vogue Week founder Paula Whittle has been doing what true visionaries do, constructing what didn’t but exist, then daring everybody else to think about larger as a result of she did.
Lengthy earlier than Atlanta’s style ecosystem carried the worldwide credibility it does immediately, Paula was investing in the concept that the town might be a reliable worldwide style vacation spot. Not aspirationally. Really.
She wasn’t ready for an invite into style historical past.
She was writing her personal chapter.
With greater than 350 exhibits produced, over 500 designers represented, style from 19 international locations showcased, and almost 20 years of cultural influence tied to her identify, Paula Whittle has constructed greater than an occasion.
She has constructed an establishment.
And like so many ladies who create legacy, she began with one thing a lot quieter than acclaim.
She began with imaginative and prescient.
A Imaginative and prescient Greater Than Vogue, A Calling Greater Than Enterprise
When Paula talks about how this journey started, she doesn’t start with ambition.
She begins with objective.
“God gave me a imaginative and prescient to offer a platform for aspiring expertise and to mentor the subsequent era of trendsetters.”
That reply tells you virtually all the pieces you must find out about how she strikes.
As a result of for Paula, style has by no means merely been about presentation.
It has been about platform.
That distinction issues.
A platform lifts folks. A platform creates entry. A platform outlives tendencies.
And thru Atlanta Worldwide Vogue Week, Paula constructed one which has finished all three.
What stands out in her story is how a lot of her management has been rooted not in chasing status, however in creating alternative. Atlanta Worldwide Vogue Week was by no means positioned as spectacle for spectacle’s sake. It turned a connector between rising expertise and world publicity, between Atlanta’s artistic pulse and worldwide style dialogue.
That’s ecosystem work.
And Paula has been doing it earlier than many individuals even had language for it.
Her every day rhythm displays that grounding.
Prayer.
Meditation.
Conferences.
Proposals.
Technique.
However beneath all of it’s one thing deeper.
Calling.
As she places it, “I personal the house by changing into who God known as me to be and do. Take cost and lead a purpose-driven life.”
That’s not branding language. That’s perception.
And maybe that’s why her influence feels so layered.
It was by no means constructed simply to impress… It was constructed to endure.
Constructing What Didn’t Exist, Then Changing into the Information Others Wanted
Probably the most transferring issues Paula says on this interview comes when speaking about illustration.
As a result of as an alternative of discussing visibility, she talks about steering.
“Illustration means to have a information. Within the business, I didn’t have that. Simply me and God. He’s my Information and spokesperson.”
Whew! There’s a lot inside that. Particularly for anybody who has ever needed to construct with out precedent.
With out mentorship. With out roadmap. With out seeing themselves mirrored within the room.
Paula is aware of that have intimately. And possibly as a result of she got here up with no information, she turned one. That could be one of the highly effective threads in her legacy.
Not merely that she constructed a style week. However that she has used that platform to mentor lots of.
Launch careers. Open doorways. Create pathways.
By means of her nonprofit Vogue Apprentice, Paula has spent years investing in younger women desirous about style, serving to them see chance the place they could have solely seen limits. By means of her “Magnificence & A Makeover” initiative, she has introduced dignity and care to underserved and homeless communities.
That work will not be separate from her style work.
It’s the soul of it.
When Paula says, “We be sure that they really feel seen inside and outside,” she is speaking about magnificence, sure.
However she can also be speaking about value.
That has at all times been a part of her blueprint.
Not merely elevating style.
Elevating folks.
And that could be why so many in Atlanta regard her not simply as an occasion producer, however as a group builder.
These are usually not the identical factor.
And Paula has at all times been doing the latter.
From Paralysis to Energy, How Religion Formed Paula Whittle’s Resilience
There’s a level in Paula’s story the place admiration turns into one thing else.
One thing deeper.
As a result of whereas constructing all of this, she was additionally navigating autoimmune illness and extreme spinal problems that moved her from paralysis, to wheelchair, to strolling once more.
Most individuals would have let survival be sufficient.
Paula stored constructing.
“I had a number of medical challenges that attempted to hinder work efficiency, however I relied on the religion and energy in God to carry me from paralyzed to wheelchair to strolling.”
Learn that slowly.
As a result of that modifications the way you learn all the pieces earlier than it.
Each accolade. Each occasion. Each milestone.
They carry totally different weight now. As a result of they weren’t constructed from ease. They had been constructed by ache. And one way or the other, by all of that, she remained expansive.
Ahead-looking. Generative.
That sort of resilience can’t be manufactured… It’s lived. And in Paula’s case, it appears inseparable from religion.
Religion not as abstraction. Religion as gas.
There’s something profoundly transferring a couple of lady whose physique confronted limitation, however whose imaginative and prescient stored increasing.
That’s energy. Quiet, disciplined, religious energy.
And it runs by all the pieces she touches.
“Create the Pattern. Grow to be the Look.” Paula Whittle on Confidence, Fashion, and Self-Definition
Ask Paula about confidence and he or she goes inward earlier than she goes outward.
“Self esteem is present in God first… As soon as we all know who we’re and whose we’re, we are able to personal that. The wonder on the within will exude on the surface. That’s true magnificence.”
That reply feels virtually like a philosophy of dwelling.
Not efficiency.
Not picture.
Id.
And maybe that’s why her model recommendation lands so laborious.
As a result of it carries the identical self-possession.
“Personal your model. Personal who you’re. Create the pattern. Grow to be the look.”
Actually?
That deserves framing.
As a result of what she’s actually saying is don’t chase permission.
Writer your self.
Which, if we’re trustworthy, describes her profession too.
Paula Whittle didn’t comply with a style blueprint.
She turned one.
Function Over Recognition, Why Paula Whittle Leads With Calling, Not Clout
There’s a lot noise round ambition proper now.
Hustle mythology.
Visibility obsession.
Efficiency disguised as management.
Paula cuts by all of it.
When requested what recommendation she would give somebody stepping boldly into objective, she says:
“Discover your objective. Personal it. Examine it. Search knowledge. Grow to be the skilled and work it. Let God lead you.”
That’s grown-woman knowledge.
Seasoned knowledge.
And it feels refreshing exactly as a result of it’s not stylish.
It’s true.
There is no such thing as a clout chasing in how Paula talks about management.
Solely stewardship.
And possibly that’s the reason her legacy has lasted almost twenty years.
As a result of objective outlives hype.
Each time.
Constructing Legacy by Serving to Others Win
My favourite reply in all the interview got here from a easy query.
How do you rejoice a win?
Paula answered:
“Assist another person to win.”
That’s not a throwaway line.
That’s an ethos.
And possibly the clearest articulation of what makes Paula Whittle extraordinary.
She has by no means handled success as possession.
She treats it as one thing to flow into.
To multiply.
To share.
That’s legacy considering.
And that’s uncommon.
As she appears forward to world enlargement and the nineteenth anniversary of Atlanta Worldwide Vogue Week this September, it feels clear Paula will not be slowing down.
She continues to be constructing.
Nonetheless mentoring.
Nonetheless increasing.
Nonetheless making issues pop and shake.
Precisely the sort of Curvy Boss we created this collection to honor.
Why Paula Whittle’s Story Issues Proper Now
As a result of tales like Paula’s remind us management doesn’t solely put on one form.
Generally it appears like religion.
Generally it appears like survival.
Generally it appears like creating an establishment nobody imagined potential.
And typically it appears like serving to another person win.
Paula Whittle has finished all the above.
And in doing so, she has constructed greater than a style week.
She has constructed proof.
Proof that plus measurement professionals belong on the helm.
Proof that objective can construct legacy.
Proof that one lady’s imaginative and prescient can change a metropolis.
That’s Curvy Boss vitality.
And that deserves highlight.
Wish to Be Featured Subsequent?
Are you a plus measurement entrepreneur, founder, govt, artistic, or skilled making your mark?
Apply or nominate somebody for our Curvy Boss Highlight.
And in the event you’re a plus measurement mannequin, influencer, or creator, we have now function alternatives for you too by our Plus Mannequin and Plus Influencer Spotlights.
As a result of each lane of this group deserves visibility.
And your story stands out as the one another person must see.
