MC Meets: Emma Medeiros, Plus Size Fashion Publicist

The creator of America's very first plus size fashion PR firm has some pretty inspiring things to say...

Emma Medeiros is dedicated to breaking the boundaries of fashion, creating Medeiros Fashion PR, just last year. The Boston-based business is America's very first public relations firm to specialize in the plus size fashion industry and it's proving to be very successful. Just nine months down the line it's already starting to make a name for itself, boasting an impressive client list and empowering women everywhere.

With our #BREAKFREE from body hate campaign ending last week, we sat down with Emma to pick her brains on the future of plus size fashion and to find out how to deliver a top elevator pitch… How did you come up with the concept of Medeiros Fashion PR? I knew that I wanted to work in PR and being plus size myself I was interested in combining the two. I tried to find a PR firm that specialised in plus size fashion to apply to but there wasn't one in the US, so that was settled as my career goal and so far it’s been really well received.

Has your past as a blogger helped you as a publicist? Writing has always been one of my passions and I’m so glad that I had the experience of being a blogger first because it has given me an edge as a publicist. I know how the media works from a journalistic point of view as well as a publicist’s point of view. I know what’s newsworthy and how to pitch to journalists.I want to really get to the point where anybody, whether it’s Marie Claire or The New York Times, sees an email from Medeiros Fashion PR and opens it immediately, believing in it entirely. Do you have any tips in business? In an interview you need to know what makes you different. I always ask clients a question that my college professor once told me that has stuck with me: ‘what makes you so fucking special?’ He was once caught off guard with this question in an interview and when he didn’t know how to respond, he was asked to leave. This is such a competitive industry and all that people really want to know is what makes you so special. Why do you deserve their time and funding versus the 20,000 other people out there waiting for it? You have to get to the point and identify what you bring to the table that nobody else does. What do you look for in clients? I look for something unique. One of my clients: keepyourpantson.com, is the only belt retailer that offers personalised shopping. There are a million belt websites but only one that truly caters to all shapes and sizes. Another client of mine is JustRaymona, a plus size designer who is also a patternmaker, setting her apart. So many designers expand from straight size to plus size by simply making the clothes bigger. That’s the first step, but it’s not the only step. Just Raymona knows how to shape clothes for all bodies, making her clothes as true to size as possible. What is the message behind Medeiros? I often get people saying that I’m promoting obesity and I think it’s really important to clarify that I am not. That’s not the message that I want to send. I recognise that being overweight [whatever overweight means for you] is unhealthy and I’m not arguing that. The message that I’m promoting is that whatever size that you are, you have the right to feel beautiful, sexy and feminine. Can plus size fashion can ever be on an equal footing with straight size fashion? I think it can be but we need to stop separating ourselves. Some women really embrace the term ‘plus size’, but the special difference that it gives us has a double-edged sword. I believe that we can’t truly be equal, and receive equal treatment until we stop thinking of ourselves as different. It’s great to celebrate our curves but we’re not going to get equal treatment until we are thought of as equal to straight size. If the word fashion means all fashion by the time I die, I will be able to go to my maker very happy. What would you like the future of Medeiros Fashion PR to entail? I’m planning on moving to New York City. I love Boston but it is very resistant to change, New York is so much more open to it and so I can really make my mark there. My aim is to be top of mind for people in terms of plus size fashion, I want Medeiros Fashion PR to be the only place to go.