Aleen is joined by Ella Halikas who is a 2021 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, a world-class curve model and the self-proclaimed CEO of Confidence. We kick off the episode by talking about some of Ella’s hilarious TikToks, including her “alternate reality series” where she highlights body image imperfections with Victoria Garrick. Ella then shares how she went from being a small-town Cali native with big dreams of becoming a model to how she booked her first gig. She shares how her hard work and perseverance helped her dreams become a reality and that being rejected from jobs motivated her even more to succeed. She then gives us a BTS look of what it’s like to be an SI swimsuit model, how she deals with turning off the negative thoughts in her head and how she deals with trolls. Next, Ella gives us tips on how to be more confident and reminds us that confidence is an internal strength that can be learned, even though it may not always come naturally. Ella then tells us all about her “Thick Girls Can Rock It Too” series where she recreates *out there* looks from celebs like Julia Fox. Finally, we wrap up by getting Aleen and Ella to confess some of their “weird” traits and then Ella shares an exciting announcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices