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"  After eight years in the modeling industry, &amp;quot;plus-size&amp;quot; model Marquita Pring was recently dropped by her long-time agency, Ford Models, when they decided to close their plus-size division in order to focus solely on straight-size models (read: super tall and super thin). &amp;quot;All of a sudden [I] got this e-mail saying &amp;#039;You are no longer represented by Ford.&amp;#039; Something about the new owner not being interested in the plus industry. It&amp;#039;s clearly not about money because we were the highest earning board [at Ford].&amp;quot;  Now Marquita is represented by IMG Models, one of the most powerful modeling agencies in the country, and is going on her first go-sees and castings for New York Fashion Week \u2014 something she was never encouraged to do at Ford. At IMG there is no distinction between straight-size and plus-size, which suits Marquita just fine. &amp;quot;I prefer &amp;#039;curvy&amp;#039; honestly,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;Plus-size feels outdated and no one thinks of it in a positive way. It&amp;#039;s always got this sort of stigma attached to it. I&amp;#039;d like to do away with that.&amp;quot; Although Marquita has not yet booked any shows, she says the response from designers and casting agents has been overwhelmingly positive and she&amp;#039;s confident that good things are on the horizon. If not this season, then next. Check out the video below for all the highlights from Cosmopolitan&amp;#039;s interview with Marquita.       Follow Charles on Twitter. Do you have a question for Cosmopolitan.com&amp;#039;s Style Editor, Charles Manning? Submit it here or tweet him @charlesemanning. Photo Credit: Lane Bryant Related Stories: 8 Gorgeous Plus-Size Models The Fashion Industry Is Ignoring Teen Petitions Disney for Plus-Size Princess Why The World&amp;#039;s Most Famous Plus-Size Model Doesn&amp;#039;t Want To Be A Plus-Size Model Anymore  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/advice/a20368/marquita-pring-model-interview/>