I can remember
the very first time I saw Mia Amber Davis-Yard, it was at a Plus Academy™ open
house in the East Village I believe. I
am fuzzy on the exact date but I DO remember my reaction to her clearly to this
day.....
She
quietly walked through the doors of that studio in all of her 6ft plus height
and size 22/24 curvaceous glory and I immediately elbowed P.A. CEO/Director Gwen
DeVoe in the rib cage and whispered to her "WHO in the HECK is THAT? She is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! Without waiting for an answer I sidled over
to her, got right in her face (in my usual Runway Diva style) and stuck my hand
out with a big ol' smile and said:
"Sooooooooo....WHO are
YOU?"
I could see
that she was stunned at the boldness of my approach for a few seconds but she
quickly regained her composure, smiled shyly and told me her name was Mia. I told her my name and how absolutely
beautiful I thought she was then I laughed and said to her
"Girrrrrrllll.....You
GOTTA loosen up!!"
We were
friends from that moment on.
I remember
pulling her to the side and telling her on that very same day, "Mama, if you
can just get yourself down to a size 18, the fashion industry is gonna go CRAZY
over you! It took her a moment to do it
but once she got focused on getting down to a size where an agency would take
notice, my girl was on FIRE!!! NOTHING
could distract her from the goal she set for herself.
As our
friendship blossomed we learned that we had a ton of stuff in common, we both
had big feet (size 12 to be exact) and an intense love for shoes, out mother's
shared the same first name, we both
loved sneaking in the background of people's photos and throwing up deuces, we
both loved old school hip hop and musicals, we both loved to laugh and often
found the most simplest of things in life to be some of the funniest and we had
a mutual love for all things COLORFUL just to name a few.
From that
day on Mia jumped right into the swing of things, we worked together in TONS of
local shows, often sharing a laugh or two between ourselves right on stage or
on a bus on the road. I watched her bloom in her career like a proud big
sister. She'd already had a taste of
fame early on from her scene stealing performance in the now classic "Road
Trip" film and to her credit; she remained level headed all the while. She was always willing to chat with a fan or
take a photo.
She came
to me often for advice with various things in fashion and I was always willing
to meet her both because I knew she had "IT" and I wanted to see her succeed
and because I simply loved being around her.
I can remember many a time having a cocktail (well I had a cocktail...lol...Mia
had her usual Cranberry Juice on the rocks) and chatting after a gig and I
would just sit across from her and just stare at her freshly washed face (Mia
ALWAYS removed her makeup after a show) and then interrupt her – "MY
GOD, IT SIMPLY MAKES NO SENSE FOR ANYONE TO BE THIS BEAUTIFUL!!"! And she would just laugh and say thank you
and move right back into whatever we were chatting about. It (her beauty and all the attention it
brought her) just didn't faze her at all.
And that was one of the many reasons that I loved her so much. It was Mia who coined the phrase that I now
paste at the bottom of my emails "Unity in the Plus Community". I thought it was a brilliant line then and
even more so now.
As the
events we worked got bigger and I moved into that phase of womanhood where my
hormones raged and my temper would flare at the mere thought of someone
shortchanging or insulting me or one of the plus girls on a set, Mia would
appear and whisper in my ear
"Quinn!! Be Nice. DON'T
Curse Diddy out!!"
or
"Quinn!!! "It's Zac
Posen – Ask him why he won't make his clothes in plus sizes....you won't like
what he has to say but DON'T CURSE HIM OUT!!!"
