Plus-size model from Arizona enters competition, aims to raise awareness

PHOENIX — Karista Harris is aiming to win the 2018 Face of the Foothills competition and show that “beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.”

Harris, 34, is a plus-size model from Tempe who has reportedly won several beauty pageants before. Now, she’s hoping to “bring awareness to diverse beauty,” she told Fox News.

“People come in all shapes, size and elements of beauty,” she said to Fox News. “You cannot fit beauty into a box.”

Her husband told Fox that Karista’s weight has been affected by illness — not by her own actions.

“She is bigger because she has been challenged with several illnesses,” he wrote. “There are bigger people who are bigger due to their own actions … Karista is not one of those people.”

In spite of that, some have taken to email to criticize her about her size. She said in a Facebook post those words would make here even more determined.

Round one of the Face of the Foothills competition has yet to be decided, and she’ll have to get through rounds two and three before the winner is announced in January. You can vote for her here.

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