Interview of Liliana Ramirez Vidaurre by Xánath Caraza

Who is Liliana Ramirez Vidaurre?

I define myself as a multi-faceted woman. I am a fun-loving woman who is silly and spontaneous and also sensitive and a romantic at heart. Passionate. I am the biggest home body. My home is my sanctuary. I love my home and I love to have people come visit my home. I love going on beach trips or anywhere else where I could surround myself with nature. I love my plants and my pets and all other creatures except maybe houseflies.  I love Lions because I am a Leo but my favorite creature lately has been the tlacuache after raising an orphaned one for some months. I love rainy days and catching sunsets. I love cooking and entertaining in my home with my loved ones. My favorite tunes are jazzy tunes, oldie tunes or sometimes classic rock. When I model for art I play frenchy tunes and really dig that vibe. I am sensitive and intuitive and eccentric and I’ve learned to respect those qualities in myself and also value them. I am an open book which could be great, but sometimes also hard to live by.

How did you first become a Model?

I was planning to commemorate my 30th birthday with a photo shoot. I was always shy in front of the camera and I wanted to break that. I planned my first shoot and loved the process so I began to take on new projects. I learned soon after I began that there were very few women in my community who were representing the plus size industry, but there were a lot of women my size. This motivated me to be that person. I began with fashion doing runway, magazine editorials, catalog work, and fashion fit modeling. modeled in my local community college and art league. After every project I would learn something new about myself.  and it allowed me to embrace my vulnerability, helping in my growth. The birth of a plus size model from a small town along the border was being born with each flash from the camera and I didn’t even know it. I was just wanting a memory to commemorate my thirty years of life. I was shy, insecure, scared, and I wanted to break that, I was tired of feeling this way. 

 
Could you describe your activities as Model-Cultural Activist?

One day I am modeling for local college students, the next I am meeting a fashion designer for a fitting, the next day I could do work with my title as Miss Plus World Humanitarian Ambassador. I love meeting those who are doing the work as great humanitarians and letting the rest of the world know they exist. I get to live a day with them watching how they help shape humanity for the good. It definitely is life changing. I am grateful for the opportunities and the people I’ve been blessed to connect through art, fashion and community.

What project are you working on at the moment that you would like to share?

I plan on fulfilling my reign as Miss Plus World Humanitarian Ambassador for 2020 doing all that I can to discover what it is to serve humanity and share it with my followers. There are so many ways I am learning we could serve as I keep my eyes open to the possibilities. Caring for a little animal that shows up at your doorstep, spending a special holiday with someone who needs your company, visiting a tent city where many work hard to do good and nurture each other with whatever they can. I want to keep modeling fashion. I am currently working closely with an amazing fashion designer Above and Beyond Dyson who I wear and represent at most of my special social appearances. I will also continue to art model for my local community college to give students a chance to see that all bodies big or small and worthy of creating art from. I will do these things that help embrace me and hopefully inspire other women. I will also continue to do as much as I can to be a good mother to our daughter Bella. Show her new ways to be expressive and help her break from anything holding her back. I see her finding so many joys in school activities and activities outside of school and I see how confident she is and it makes me so proud to be her mother. My husband is also working hard to build his wonderful press called FlowerSong Books. He is publishing many voices worth sharing with the world and I plan on being there however I can to support that this dream grows as far as it could possibly reach. I will wake up every day and think up new ways to fill my time. Only tomorrow can tell what new life adventures will come.

What else would you like to share with our La Bloga readers?

Find what you love and give it your all. It’s not going to kill you if it is meant to build you. Everything has its growing pains. Don’t let the growing pains scare you from achieving your vision. Wake up every day and see how you could inspire others with your own journey, not shoot them down. We all have a different journey and the differences could be the things we learn from each other.

I leave you with two quotes that define my activism and self-love journey

“Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it.”

-Father Greg Boyle

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”

-Maya Angelou

Liliana Ramirez Vidaurre was born and raised in the Resaca City of San Benito. She began her modeling career nearly one decade ago.  During that time she has been featured in magazine spreads, fashion shows and on runways.  She has worked with a number of well respected names in the fashion community, including Bec's Fashions, World Plus, Rent a Dress, Isabella & Jacque and Aboveandbeyond Designs.  Her work has also included art modeling for local colleges and art leagues.She has worked tirelessly in these places to shine a positive light on body image and to help women in her community as a positive and inspiring voice. In addition to modeling she volunteers doing community service to help her community any chance she can. She is the wife of McAllen poet laureate Edward Vidaurre, whom she married in 2001, and mother of twelve year old daughter, Bella. She is the current Miss Rio Grande Plus World for 2019 and also Miss Plus World Humanitarian Ambassador for 2019-2020.