Hey Barbara, lets get straight into it…does being a nanny make you want kids more or less?

Hello Elizabeth !!! First of all thank you for getting in touch with me and for the invite I really appreciate it. Well I helped looking after my cousins and neighbours kids so when I came to London I first started working as a cleaner then slowly I was getting into the nanny life and as long as I remember I always loved it. I always say when I go on interviews that some people do this job because of the money and some other people do because they love being nannies and love what they do and I am one of them, being a nanny it isn’t an easy job as you need to balance the kids, parents and your needs and also you need to always keep reminding yourself that they aren’t your kids and you must do what the parents wants even though sometimes you won’t agree with them. I remember this family that I worked once that was very challenging that got me so stressed to the point that the thought of not wanting kids was being on my mind constantly and people that knows me knows that there isn’t nothing else in this world that I want more than kids so I had to put myself first and move on because I was getting so stressed by kids that are not even mine so when I have mine I wouldn’t be patient and this is not how I want to be when I have my own kids.

Why did you leave Brazil for London and what do you miss the most?

I left Brazil on 2012 when I was just 23 years old and was the first time I was living way from my family and in a foreign country. I came because a good friend of mine came with her girlfriend and a few months later she invited me to come and I decided to as I wasn’t in a good place back then as I was dealing with depression (only had the knowledge that it was depression years later) so I took some time off from drama university to come to London and have been here ever since. I love London and I feel like home here more than Brazil, I know I came from a beautiful country with beautiful people like me rsrsrs but life in Brazil it isn’t that beautiful like most people see when they watch tv or go on holidays specially now with that guy on the presidency. I really miss the weather of course but I am not complaining about UK weather no no no I am grateful with either because in my perception we must be grateful for everything we have in our lives but I was born there and that weather is part of my culture so I do miss playing outside with my friends as kids or going to a bar as adults OMG!!! If I could only share the images I have in my head with you all would be amazing but besides the weather I miss my family and friends the most but I have made my own family and friends here and where I live Willesden Green I can get all the Brazilian food I want to so I am ok with that rsrsrs.

You bared all on BBC's Naked Truth:Tattoos so beautifully, how was that experience?

The experience on The Naked Truth was amazing and of course being naked in front of camera and people I’ve never met wasn’t that easy but the program’s idea of showing to people what tattoos means to us was what that made me want to be part of it. At the time we filmed it I didn’t have my full arm and leg inked and I’ve seen and heard people saying and looking weirdly at me because of my tattoos but imagine now that I have way more tattoos...once I had a nanny job position turned down because my tattoos would influence the kids rsrs crazy huh!? I can’t believe that there are people that still think like that they are more worried about my tattoos than how I am going to treat their kids. I am really happy and blessed with the family I am now and I can say this I’ve had a really hard year before I met them with three different families and I’ve been putting out to the universe to bring a good family that would see me for who I am and forget the stereotypes and I finally found them and I remember on my interview I asked the mum if she had any problem with tattoos and I showed her my arms and I was really worried about her reaction and me and the little girl was love on the first sight and her mum was like “no I also have one so no problem I am more worried how you are going to look after her than about your tattoos” I was in shock and as I am writing this now I have tears in my eyes because maybe for some people this was nothing but for me was her way of saying I don’t judge you by your look. The world it is getting better as much as we think that it is not but it is look at us black people everyday we are making our voices to be hear more and more...yes we have a long way to but hey lets celebrate instead of complain right? I hope one day people understand that tattoo is a form or art and expression.

 

As an aspiring plus size model which brand would you love to work with and why?

As long as I remember I’ve been overweight and we know how society treats us plus sizes women and men so until my 25 years old I thought that being “fat” was bad and no one would love me for who and how I was and that feeling made me doubt myself all the time but then I decided to lose weight and I lost 50kg in a year I went from 126kg to 78kg and you are must be thinking WOW she was so happy right? No! I wasn’t. I was happy from the outside because I never thought that I could lose weight on my own without surgery or pills but I was so unhappy inside because I was treating myself so badly and that made me feel so unhappy and when I got stuck and couldn’t lose more I started gaining again and today I am back to my weight and you are must be thinking WOW she must be sad now right? No! I AM NOT and you know why? Because I had to learn how to LOVE MYSELF I thought that losing weight would make me happy and make people love me because that was what the tv and people used to say to me all the time and I saw that it wasn’t true. Today I learned that the “love yourself “ means literally love yourself no matter how you are, you can be slim or plus or too tall or too short be black or white or be Japanese or African love yourself means be grateful and proud of the life body,s kin that you have but doesn’t mean that you don’t need to look after your health for example today I want to lose weight because I want to be healthy to look after my kids when I have them not to make people to love me.

 

So once I started my journey on loving myself I started to have my own plus size inspirations so I thought about modelling so I’ve done one photoshoot for a friend and I loved it so I went and did a workshop for plus size model and I met so many wonderful and beautiful plus sizes women but ever since I haven’t done anything but soon I will be back to it. I always buy clothes from this brand called Grassfield it is an online store that I found on instagram they are two sister if I am not wrong from Nigeria and all they clothes are handmade and believe me they are amazing and they have from size 8 to 24 so I would love to model for them plus just know that I am helping my black sis from there I am happy to keep buying from them.

 

What should designers who are wanting to cater to larger women pay attention to?

Well I have large breast so I still think they should be paying more attention to that because sometimes you can find plus size clothes that with fit you everywhere but not on breast area and it is só frustrating and I know all my big breasted sis out there will agree with me rsrs.

 

Beauty products your afro can’t survive without?

OMG!!! One of my favourite subjects rsrs my friends always make fun of me saying that I go crazy if I don’t deep condition my hair at least 3x a week and I look after it like a babe and it isn’t completely true but I do deep conditioning it 1x when I am working and 3x a week when I am on holiday and as I do the low poo method so I don’t use any products on my hair only products that are allowed so I get it from Brazil as we have a huge range of products but when I cannot get it from there I get from Shea Moisture or Cantu they are not cheap comparing to the normal brands but for girls like me that are always dying their hair it’s worth it.

What does style mean to you?

Style for me means WEAR WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE AND BEAUTIFUL. At least that how I am to be honest, as I mentioned before I have my inspirations but I have my own style that for some people it isn’t cool but it’s fine beca I don’t choose my outfit to please anybody but me and I love before going out I plan the whole outfit in my mind and when I put it on I look in the mirror and I say GIRL!!! You are looking Gorgeous OMG rsrs and I am telling you I go out in the mood and no one will change it. I see sometimes people looking at me thinking “her style is cool or I didn’t like it” but the most important thing is I am feeling myself so F*%# the world rsrs.

Plain or printed?

Both depends on the occasion

Favourite quote?

Treat yourself with love and respect, and you will attract people who show you love and respect in other words FIRST LOVE YOURSELF

 

What piece of Yemzi do you love or have your eye?

Girl I am getting that Yemzi identity pin!

 

Thanks so much @barbraprata! <3