XL Girls: Joeena, welcome to XL Girls. This is your first layout. What made you decide to do it?
JOEENA: I used to be a model a long time ago for Liz Claiborne and places like that until I gained some weight. Then a good friend of mine who reads SCORE and XL Girls said to me, "You know what, Joeena? You're very pretty and you would be an excellent candidate for the magazine. I think you should send in a picture and see what they say." I was like, "Oh, I don't know, I've gained weight." But he insisted I would do really good because you specialize in full-figured girls. So I told him I'd do it, just to see what you said. I had just moved into a new house in Ohio, and my digital camera was packed away. All I had was my little web camera. I snapped about six pictures. They were real grainy, but I emailed them to your studio. You emailed me back and told me I had excellent potential, a beautiful, natural hourglass figure, but you needed better pictures. I bought a disposable camera, took some more pictures and sent them in. I heard back that you loved me!