MEET OUR FEATURED GUEST MODEL!

My name is Kali and I’m 5’1” and proud! Originally from Metro-Detroit, I moved to Chicago in my mid-20s to follow my dream of being a women’s equality / gender-based violence activist. I eventually entered the creative scene as a way to balance my mentally difficult work, and instantly fell in love with being behind and in front of the camera.

 

On a deeper level, as a petite person, and as an Arab-Latina, I have always struggled to feel sexy, powerful, and celebrated. Society has always listed petites as “little” and “cute” and it has not allowed us much room outside of those boxes. I hardly saw petite representation in the media or in the modeling industry growing up; that is until Ariana Grande rose to fame when I was in middle school. Despite her being iconic in so many ways, Ari’s petite frame really drew me in as a fan from the start. People saw her as one of the most powerful voices and talented people in our generation. She was vocal in her activist views, tatted up, and deemed both sexy and beautiful by society. Ariana taught me that I don’t have to be defined by my height or frame, and that I can be defined by whatever I want and choose to be.

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As petite women, people never expect us to be the powerful, talented, vocal people we are. I love that WhyNotPetites is here to prove them all wrong and is making room for petite models to take us space!