Move Back
![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva_7_crop]()
Jennifer Barreto-Leyva has made a name for herself on television and in the modeling industry -- even though she doesn't fit the mold of a traditional model.![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__9_]()
While everyone was seeing a parade of emaciated models on TV and magazine covers, she was promoting a message of having a strong self esteem no matter what you looked liked.![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__5_]()
Four years ago, after months of deep thinking and at the urging of the owner himself, she decided to become a contestant of the Miss Plus Universe pageant.![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__6_]()
She was the first Latina in history to ever do so, and I won both the popular vote (from 150,000 people worldwide), and the votes from the pageant jury itself.![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__4_]()
"The way I see it," she said. "No one has the right to tell me whether I’m beautiful or not. I grew up in a culture where beauty pageants were considered the norm, not the exception, and the message drowned into your head from infancy was that beauty equals power."![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__11_]()
Venezuelan women are considered to be the most beautiful women in the world, yet the most troubled when it comes to both self acceptance and self esteem, she said.![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__15_]()
Hosting her fashion and self-esteen segment for plus-size people on the show "Ellas y sus noches" on Channel 13 in Puerto Rico.![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__14_]()
Hosting her fashion and self-esteen segment for plus-size people on the show "Ellas y sus noches" on Channel 13 in Puerto Rico.![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__1_]()
![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__2_]()
![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__10_]()
![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__8_]()
![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__12_]()
On a runway on Portada's TV.![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva]()
![Jennifer_Barreto_Leyva__13_]()
On Sabado Gigante with Don Francisco on a debate "Can fat girls be beauty queens."Living the Phat Life -- and Loving It!
In vanity-obsessed Venezuela, Jennifer-Barreto-Leyva is carving a path as a plus-sized model.
Move Forward
- Living the Phat Life -- and Loving It!
