GlossMagazineOnline talked to Yolanda Givens, the city movement manager of Project Curve Appeal Chicago about the group and what they are up to.

GlossMagazineOnline (GMO): How did Project Curve Appeal Chicago get created?

Yolanda Givens: It got started in Chicago; well, I got involved here in Chicago for my sister, I actually ran across it [the organization] for her. She and one other lady, the two of them launched the chapter here in Chicago. After helping them out a little bit, I spoke with the owner of Pink City Corporation and became the manager for the Chicago area.

GMO: Why did Pink City Corporation create the Project Curve Appeal movement?

Yolanda: Pink City Corp is a multifaceted company that puts on events that specialize and cater to women. Bachelorette Expo, We Rock the Runway, Glam Day, and the annual Sisterhood Conference are some of the things they have. The founder at some point, who has a long history of event planning, she created the idea that full-figured women were being mis-represented. I myself look at statistics, and they say that 70 percent of women are a size 14 to 16; this is a majority of the woman population. Yet, there’s this notion or stereotype that full-figured women are overweight, they’re not fit and yet the ideal woman in most people’s eyes is someone that’s thin. So, she did it just for that. In hopes to reach out across the nation to change this perception that not all women of larger size are unhealthy, not all of them necessarily don’t work out, and she is reaching people through the use of fashion and entertainment.

GMO: How is Project Curve Appeal correcting the distorted perceptions of curvy women?

Yolanda: By doing a couple of things. We’re really just beginning to plan our calendar for 2012, but even so far we have put on a couple of very small events to introduce ourselves to show that beauty exist inside and out, even in the full figured arena. We have several events planned for the 2012 year; we have a whole program “Commit to Fit” where we focus on health, exercise, staying healthy, and staying in shape. We’ve already begun with Zumba. We have a commitment to community service; we are actually doing two things, just this year and this year alone we’re volunteering for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at their gala, and we’ve adopted a school where we are going to be doing some programming with that school. There’s a lot of things, it’s not just about the fashion, entertainment, or to focus in on full-figured women. It’s about women embrace who they are, embrace their curves, to unify them, give them the opportunity to network with women like themselves, meet different women, and it’s about really building a sisterhood.

GMO: How have women been reacting to Project Curve Appeal Chicago?

Yolanda: We have had a tremendous amount of responses, excellent responses. The ladies that we have come across are very excited to hear that there is something in place for them to get involved in. Something that addresses the needs of full-figured women, that highlight full-figured women, that embraces women that are doing their own thing, running their own business, networking them, and connecting them. We actually had to slow down the recruitment process a little bit just so we’ll have the opportunity to plan out our 2012 calendar, network with some local fashion designers, and look at some different venues. In just 30 days, we recruited 12 other ladies, and that’s just the first 12 we got through.

GMO: Has there been any backlash from people?

Yolanda: Absolutely not.

GMO: What effect do you want Project Curve Appeal to have on people?

Yolanda: Overall, long term I want to address that issue and distorted image of full-figured women. I want them to know that full-figured women are business women just like any other woman, they are beautiful just like any other woman, and they can rock the runway just like any other woman. My overall hope is that we will get to the point that people are looking for full-figured models, people are looking for women of larger sizes to fit on panels about childhood obesity, about health and nutrition, which they would look to Project Curve Appeal for.

GMO: Can you tell me a little about the fashion show you guys have coming up in 2012?

Yolanda: We’re in the process of planning. We’re currently recruiting, looking for local designers that have a focus on full figured and plus size fashion. We haven’t secured the location yet, but we are going with the theme “We Rock the Runway” which was created by the parent company. The theme is to show, demonstrate, and display full-figured women on the runway in all types of clothing, looking fabulous, looking great, looking confident, and we want that confidence to show from the outside as they rock the runway. We’re in the plans of making this really an exciting and really large event in 2012.

GMO: What are your hopes for Project Curve Appeal Chicago in the future?

Yolanda: Other than what I mentioned, we definitely want to grow in numbers, we definitely want to see the results of this movement in Chicago, we want to see the boutiques, and clothing stores really begin to have a variety of clothing. We want people to recognize that women that are size 12, 14, and 16 aren’t less beautiful or less healthy.

You can check out Project Curve Appeal Chicago at www.projectcurveappeal.com/chicago and on Facebook. You can also check out their parent company Pink City Corporation at pinkcitycorp.com/.