Ashley Graham ON: How To Turn Insecurity Into MASSIVE CONFIDENCE | Jay Shetty

Ashley Graham describes realizing at 18 that she was “spiraling” into hating herself despite working and making money, because she was trying to earn worth through things like food, men, and gossip. She frames the turning point as recognizing that external success couldn’t compensate for feeling unworthy.

She says her mother urged her to return to church, find community outside modeling, and change her self-talk because “words have power.” Ashley credits daily affirmations—especially the difficult “I love you”—as part of sustained inner and outer work rather than an overnight fix.

Ashley explains that after a lingerie commercial featuring her was banned from television because of her size, she leaned into social media to “tell my truth,” posting unretouched images. The response helped her recognize both a demand for representation and a market gap she could fill with a lingerie line.

She recounts forming a group called Alda with four other curvy models to switch agencies together, sharing pay information and presenting proposals as a business case for curve representation. She emphasizes that meaningful change isn’t solo work and requires teams and collaboration.

After losing an opportunity for the Italian Vogue cover, Ashley describes feeling jealousy and anger and coping with food, then having a “three-day conversation” with herself about what the cover would have meant. She says relief came when she accepted “it wasn’t yours,” forgave herself, and let it go.