Maria Magdalena Andrejczyk is only 5'9", but she really stands out. Here's an article from NPR:

An Olympian Sold Her Silver Medal To Fund A Boy's Surgery. The Buyer Let Her Keep It

August 19, 2021 | 3:02 PM ET

Just days after the Tokyo Olympics, a Polish javelin thrower auctioned off her silver medal to help pay for an infant's heart surgery.

Maria Magdalena Andrejczyk announced on Facebook last week that she would sell her medal and put the proceeds toward an operation for 8-month-old Miłoszek Małysa. According to a fundraiser page, the boy is under home hospice care and requires an urgent operation in the United States.

This week, Andrejczyk announced the auction winner.

The Polish convenience store chain Żabka placed the top bid, paying $125,000 for the silver medal, according to media reports.

But instead of collecting its prize, Żabka announced it would let Andrejczyk keep the silver medal after all.

"We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian," the company said in a Facebook post translated from Polish. "We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will remain with Ms. Maria, who showed how great she is."

The 25-year-old athlete nabbed second place during the Olympic women's javelin throw final in early August.

After the auction closed, Andrejczyk said in a translated Facebook post that the medal was to her a "symbol of struggle, faith and the pursuit of dreams despite many adversities."

She added: "I hope that for you it will be a symbol of the life we ​​fought for together."

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P.S.: NPR forgot to mention that Ms. Andrejczyk is "familiar with adversity". She missed placing in the 2016 Rio Games by a few centimeters. In 2018, she was diagnosed with bone cancer.

Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, actress, model, television producer, record producer and talk show hostess. She has long been considered one of hip-hop's pioneer feminists. Her work in music, film, and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination.

Visit her website

Raqui is a writer, poet, speaker, activist and much more (i.e. LargeinCharge)

They say you should never judge a book by its cover. I truly feel that the same goes for a person. You can never observe one moment in a persons life, and believe that is all they are. There are many pages to a book and many pages to a person, pages where they write their history. They create their book of life by the actions they take and the deeds that they do. The experiences and challenges they go through set a mold and it is the person who decides what form the mold will take.

My name is Raqui and I am known to many people in life and across the internet for many different reasons. For every person who thinks they know what I am about, this site is going to surprise you. I am about to introduce you to another page in the book of Raqui. Through these pages you will find out the many Dimensions that make me the woman I am today and the woman I will become tomorrow. These are my pages in the book of my life.

There is nothing in my life that I regret, I have never done anything that I am ashamed of. So I am laying it on the line and giving all those who are interested in working with me the real story behind my persona and what I have done through out my years to advance into the person I am today.

I hope you enjoy your journey into the world of Raqui.

Visit her website

RTD food columnist took a break from topic to take up fashion debate with popular syndicated columnist Erma Bombeck in 1976

Nicole Kappatos

Erma Bombeck was a columnist who wrote about suburban home life from the mid-1960s to the 1990s. Bombeck authored thousands of newspaper columns, often with a sense of humor, chronicling the life of an ordinary suburban housewife. She had millions of readers in the U.S. and Canada.

In September 1976, Times-Dispatch food columnist Nancy Finch received a newspaper clipping in the mail from her mother who lived in Lakeland, Florida. The clip was an Erma Bombeck column about the problems short women faced buying clothes. Bombeck closed the column saying “I am well aware…that tall girls have their problems…but if they want to complain, they’re going to have to get their own column.”

Finch, a tall woman, was up for the challenge. She used her column space, normally focused on discussing food, to challenge Bombeck on the equally frustrating fashion issues faced by tall women.
 
Here is what Finch had to say:

Dear Erma,

I am 5 feet, 10 inches tall and I have my own column, thank you—even if it is supposed to be about food. But I can’t let your challenge go by. So hemlines have dropped and all five feet two of you is tripping over them. I’m not the least bit sympathetic.

I’ve been going around looking like a majorette for the past 10 years or since whenever the mini struck. While you’re just now having to start taking them up—I’ve been letting them down, forever.

It all started back when I was a junior bridesmaid at age 12 and I was taller than the bride, the bridegroom and all the ushers.

While everyone else wears long sleeves, I’ve been wearing “bracelet length.” Salesladies have been assuring me it was the “latest” for 25 years.

Mrs. Bombeck, you have tangled with the wrong tall tiger.

Have you ever tried wearing panty hose with the waistband around your knees? Did you ever have a date tell you he just loved dancing “cheek to chest” with you?

Did you know that clothing manufacturers think there is no such thing as a tall pregnant woman? Can you imagine wearing a sheet for nine months with armholes and a headhole cut in it?

While you can’t find your feet, the hems have finally hit my knees and I am doomed forever to looking like something out of a vintage Sears catalog.

Have you ever looked at a 21-inch baby daughter and wondered what hath you and your 6 feet 4 husband wrought?

I won’t even go into the rest. Undoubtedly you wear a size 5 shoe and couldn’t possibly know what it’s like to be directed to the men’s department when you ask a shoe salesman if he carried size 11 ½.

You are quite right there is an existing population on this earth that is short. And it is the majority.

It has us bumping our heads on car doors, because hunch-back from bending over to chop onions and brush our teeth, scrunching up in bathtubs made for pygmies and generally suffering all sorts of abuse and indignities.

Now that we have finished with women, senior citizens and children’s lib, I have one hope, TALL LIBERATION.

Nancy Kissinger, stop standing there towering over Henry. We need you!

NOTE: Nancy Kissinger was the wife of then-U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. She was about six feet tall and Henry was 5 feet 4 inches.

Bombeck never responded to Finch’s column. Finch recently shared that in response to her column she had an outpouring of gratitude from fellow tall women in the Richmond area.

The Virginia Repertory Theater will debut “Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End” at the Hanover Tavern, a comedic one-woman show about the well known columnist. The show will run from March 2-April 8, 2018.

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HIGH HOPES: Russian woman who’s 6ft 9in with 52.4in legs aiming to be crowned ‘world’s tallest model’… and she wears size 12 shoes

Ekaterina Lisina, 29, is popular with men who are attracted to taller women and those with larger feet

By Lauren Windle 29th June 2017, 12:45 pmUpdated: 29th June 2017, 2:58 pm

FORMER professional basketball player Ekaterina Lisina has a new target in her sights – being named the world’s tallest model.

Standing at 6ft 9in in her bare feet, Ekaterina, from Russia, has already been officially named the tallest woman in Russia.

After she retired from basketball, the leggy beauty launched a career in modelling and believes she is now the world’s tallest model.

Ekaterina said: “The record is held at the moment by Amazon Eve and she is 6ft 8in, which is smaller than me.

“I really want to be in the book of world records as the world’s tallest model. I also think I have a chance to be awarded the world’s longest legs. My legs are around 52.4 inches, which is longer than the current record holder”.

The 29-year-old’s striking height has drawn her fans from all over the world – many of them men with a particular interest in taller “Amazonian” women or women with big feet.

Ekaterina doesn’t just count her lengthy legs among her achievements but she has also been officially recognised as having the biggest feet of any woman in Russia with a European size 47, or a UK size 12.

She said: “I do like the attention and I hope after I get the title I am going to get even more attention!”

“I think my long legs can definitely help my modelling career because there aren’t so many models with such long legs.”

Ekaterina’s 52.4 inch pins also propelled her to great success as a professional basketball player.

At the age of 16, Ekaterina had to choose between pursuing her dreams of becoming a model and playing basketball. Already on the path to success with basketball, she chose the sport, putting her catwalk dreams on hold.

She explained: “I wanted to be a model since I was 16-years-old but at that time I started my professional basketball career.

“Basically I had to choose between modelling and basketball and of course there was no question because with basketball I had talent.”

As part of her successful career Ekaterina represented the Russia women’s team at the 2008 Olympics, where together they won Olympic bronze.

Given that Ekaterina’s parents were tall – her father is 6ft 5in and her mother 6ft 1in – Ekaterina was always expected to reach great heights.

Her father Viktor Lisin reveals that they noticed from birth that their daughter was a lot taller than average.

He said: “When we were picking her up from the hospital we noticed right away that her legs were really long and her body mainly consisted of them.”

Ekaterina’s older brother Sergei Lisina, who himself measures 6ft 6in (2 metres), recalls his not-so-little sister being picked on by other kids at school.

He said: “I remember she was bullied a few times at school because she was the tallest and I had to show up there a couple of times.

“She realised quite quickly that it gives her a huge advantage in a specific type of sport which she started doing professionally almost straight away.

“So I don’t think it was too uncomfortable for her. Also, because all of our family members are tall, not many of us felt uncomfortable about this fact.

“On the contrary, I think being tall is awesome, no doubts about that. If I had an option of adding on about four or five centimetres to my height I’d certainly agree to do that.”

But growing up, Ekaterina did find shopping for clothes a struggle.

She said: “It was very difficult for me to buy clothes and I knew I was different.

“I only really realised I was attractive when I was about 24 years old. I always had an athletic body and was always much taller than everyone else my age.

“But then I realised that being tall is very attractive and that I got a lots of attention from men. I am so comfortable with my body now.”

The single mother of one says that carrying her son, who’s now six-years-old, made her love and appreciate her body like never before.

She said: “I think during pregnancy I developed curves and I started to feel so great about it.

“Before that, I always felt like I had a teenager’s body but now I feel so feminine and confident.

“I feel really comfortable in my body right now and I don’t have any problems being taller than everyone else. I love it.”

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Samantha Joelle DiBois (formerly Coleman)

Samantha was kind enough to describe herself for this website. I consider her a friend:

My name is Samantha DiBois (Coleman), I’m 39 years old (born in 1980), 5’10” and 350lbs.  I am a competitive powerlifter and strong woman athlete and I hold many world records. 

I was inducted until the Guinness Book of World records for my 661lbs rss squat in 2018.

I have a bachelors degree in Criminal Justice Administration and work with various charities to help my local community as well as various children’s charities. I love the outdoors, sports, animals, and crafting.

Help needed

In early March, my spouse left me and completely physically, emotionally and financially abandoned me. During this time I found out I have endometriosis. The combination of my endometriosis and heart issues (due to stress), I was unable to continue to perform my duties at work and was let go.

I have no income and am waiting on support from my estranged spouse, but these legal matters take time. I would be eligible for unemployment, but with the endo pain, I am usually too debilitated to leave the house. The bright side is that once my financial situation levels out, I can go to a specialist, get treatment and likely return to work or in the very least decide if I should go on disability (my very last resort).

Visit Samantha's GoFundMe page

Visit Samantha's Instagram Page

“Sarah loves to dream and Plus size modelling was a part of that dream. Sarah is a professional plus size model, blogger, beauty diversity advocate and public speaker. Her passion is to help women see their true beauty regardless of their weight. Sarah’s personal story of beauty for ashes is at the core of her journey for helping women discover their magnificence and excel from within.

Sarah openly shares her journey of surviving abuse, self-hatred and sadness to thriving in a place of joy and self-love to give other women hope that they too can overcome anything and see beauty in themselves.

On June 30th, she was crowned Miss Plus Canada 2014 in Toronto, Ontario. Sarah was also awarded People’s Choice and the Talent Award where she shared her journey from abuse, self-hatred and sadness to a place of joy and self-love.

The couple of years have been full of exciting events, modelling, appearances, speaking engagements and encouraging others to love themselves, just the way they are. She has also ripped the runway in several local and international shows including Full Figured Fashion Week, Montreal Plus Fashion week, and Caribbean Plus Fashion Week.

Giving back is important for Sarah because in her darkest hour, the love and support from those around her helped her to see her true worth and push her forward.

Sarah lives in Toronto, Ontario and currently works in the non profit sector at Frontstream – a software company that works with non profits who fundraise online. Sarah is passionate about working with some of North America’s top charities as they develop their online strategy and implementation plans to grow their fundraising efforts.

She also volunteers at WINGS Maternity Home in Ajax as the Executive Assistant, Event & Fundraising Manger and as a mentor to the young moms who live in the home as well as the 50 community moms WINGS supports. WINGS is a very big part of Sarah’s life and considers it her second home. Be sure to check out the W.I.N.G.S. Maternity Home Website for more information about what they do (www.wingsmaternityhome.com). Please consider making a donation to this amazing cause!

Although Sarah models fashion, her heart’s desire is to be a woman clothed with strength and dignity and laugh at the future with no fear – no fear of what if’s and what next.”

Visit her website

See Just How Drastically Women's Heights Differ Around the World

Where do you stand?

By Christina Heiser, February 11, 2016

Chances are, your girlfriends run the gamut of heights (we all have that barely 5' pal and also one who towers over everyone else). So what's the norm?

The average woman in the U.S. is 5'4", according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And heights totally vary around the globe, as you can see from the image above. The shortest ladies come from Bolivia — they stack up at just 4'8" on average — while the tallest hail from the Netherlands, at 5'7" on average.

Then there are the extremes.

Read the full article (incl. graphics and pictures)

This is an article about my great friend Sharran from London

I can say that Sharran is one of the sweetest, most caring ladies out there. Don't treat her as a "novelty". She's so much better than that.

Fact is: even tall ladies come in all shapes and sizes (Joerg)

"... There aren't too many women who reach their sporting peak by eating takeaways and fried chicken – and tipping the scales at a mighty 32 stone. But then there aren't too many women who take up sumo wrestling. In fact, the British female 'team' currently has just one member – 6ft mother of three Sharran Alexander..."

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Sigourney Weaver has been luckier than most Hollywood stars - because no one wanted to work with a six-foot tall woman at the beginning of her career. The Aliens star admits she'll always be grateful to the directors who cast her despite fears she'd tower over her leading men. She explains, "When I started, hardly anybody wanted to hire a woman who was six feet tall. "Which man wants to spend their shooting days on the set on an apple box just to be able to look into my eyes?" Weaver had another disadvantage - she was a woman who wanted a family. She adds, "I feel sorry for women like Katharine Hepburn. She might have won four Academy Awards, but she never got to enjoy what it means to be a mother. I find that very sad."

That's the full article... I found it here.

Singer Terah Lynn Is A Different Shade Of Blues

By Ldn-Post | June 24, 2021

Hailing from the mountains of the eastern United States, blues-country singer Terah Lynn has made her way to the airwaves of the UK.

First featured on MMH Home of the Rock Radio in 2020, her sassy break-up, blues single “Not So Nice” has Londoners tapping their feet. It was this radio debut that lead photographer Adam Kennedy of Blues Matters Magazine to include Lynn in his virtual photo shoot series during the pandemic. Since then, her latest single “Grave Digger” has done the same.

With a story as unique and intriguing as her voice, Lynn has been a construction and labor worker most of her life. It’s not quite what you would expect from a six-foot tall woman with supermodel good looks but somehow it fits.

In a world of glamour and glitz, oversized egos and put together wardrobes, you can often find Terah with messy, unkempt hair, t-shirts with the sleeves cut off and sporting a different ball cap every day. As she says “I just don’t have the attention span for all the upkeep.” It is that candid nature that makes Lynn so likable. She’s real, and you feel that in her music.

Lynn’s lyrics are intelligent and have a depth that is often lacking in modern music. She finds a way to tell a story in a true-to-self, witty way. Combined with her gritty, gravelly voice, she is the recipe for the star we didn’t know we needed.

Having recently relocated to Nashville, Lynn is starting to perform around Music City. When she isn’t singing, she supervises the lumber mill and works the machines herself building the iconic electric guitars used often in the industry she is just now tapping into. When asked what it’s like to work for such a well-known company, she says “It’s exactly what you would dream working for Gibson would be like. They care about their instruments, they care about music. I mean, who doesn’t want to build electric guitars for a living?”

In addition to singing, songwriting and running a lumber mill, Lynn also has two businesses of her own. Bridge Music Magazine is a labor of love she started at the end of 2020 to create a publication where “artists can support artists.” She has interviewed artists from all genres and walks of lif all over the world. “We are still building it,” she says “I want to make it a place where indie artists get the support and recognition they deserve. It’s not easy doing this thing on your own.”

Then there is Indie Design Co, Lynn’s graphic design company geared towards creating album covers and social media promotion packages for independent artists at a great price. “It’s hard enough trying to afford recording and everything else it takes to start yourself in the music industry, why make it hard to get a good album cover?”

Terah Lynn truly is a jack of all trades, an artist for the artists. As she says, “I want to give the support that I would want to receive.” It is that attitude, hard work and giving nature that lead us to believe that Lynn will soon be on top of the game.

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Models are known for their lanky physiques, but one former catwalk pro is attempting to trump the Guinness World Record holder for the world’s longest legs.

“I believe that they are definitely the longest in Australia and, as far as I know, in America too,” Caroline Arthur, a former model based in Melbourne, told Barcroft Media.

The 39-year-old mother of two has legs that extend 51.5 inches from hip to heel. Barcroft reported that the current record holder, Svetlana Pakratova, a Russian woman, has legs that measure 51.9 inches long.

“Because it’s so close, I think it is worth contacting them and finding out exactly where they measure from and getting an official, accurate measurement done,” Arthur, who is a dermotherapist, told the website.

Arthur stands at 6 feet 2 inches tall, and her legs account for 69 percent of her body.

When she began modeling around age 15, her legs helped her nab gigs but also get rejected from them, she told Barcroft.

“I was told that I’m too tall for Australian beauty standards and couldn’t model clothes because they just wouldn’t fit me,” Arthur told Barcroft. “So as much as I did get work because of my long legs, I also got knocked back for the same reason.”

Her husband, named only as Cameron, is about the same height as her.

“Being married to her is definitely good for my posture because I have to stand up straight,” Cameron joked to Barcroft.

Cameron reportedly built the family’s house with 10-foot-tall ceilings and extra-high kitchen countertops for their tall family.

After struggling with self-image issues as a teenager, Arthur said she has learned to embrace her height yet still struggles to find close that fit her lengthy frame.

“I can honestly say now, as a 39-year-old woman, I’m the most secure in my own skin that I have ever been,” she told Barcroft. “I feel more beautiful than I ever have in my life. It takes time, and you go through stages, but now I definitely see my legs as a positive thing.”

The couple’s children, 13-year-old Cooper, who stands at 6 feet 2 inches tall, and 15-year-old Zoe, who is 5 feet 9 inches tall, agree.

“I think that Mom looks really beautiful, and I really aspire to look like her,” Zoe told Barcroft.

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Internationally acclaimed Susan Graham – dubbed "America's favorite mezzo" by Gramophone Magazine – rose to the top league of international artists within just a few years of her professional debut, and along the way has mastered an astonishing range of repertoire and formats. Her operatic roles have stretched from Monteverdi's 17th century Poppea to a contemporary American operatic portrait of Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, written specifically for her, as well as leading roles in new works by John Harbison and Tobias Picker. She won a Grammy for a collection of Ives songs, and her recital repertoire is so broad that 14 composers from Purcell to Sondheim are represented on her most recent disc, Virgins, Vixens, and Viragos (with pianist Malcolm Martineau on Onyx). But throughout her extraordinary career, this distinctly American artist has always been considered one of the great interpreters of French vocal music of her time, so much so that the Texas native was awarded the French government's prestigious "Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur", not just for her profile as a favorite performer on France's stages but also in honor of her commitment to French music.

Her tall, slim good looks made the operatic stage the natural first stop of a distinguished career, with early successes in "trouser" roles such as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Her technical brilliance brought mastery of Mozart's more virtuosic roles such as Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Idamante in Idomeneo, and Cecilio in Lucio Silla, as well as the title roles of Handel's Ariodante and Xerxes. Inevitably she triumphed in the iconic Richard Strauss mezzo roles – Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (often opposite the Marschallin of Renée Fleming) and the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. These roles brought her to prominence in every major opera house in the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago, San Francisco, Covent Garden, Paris, Munich, La Scala, Salzburg, Vienna, and many others, and she has returned to them regularly for appearances ranging from the title roles of Handel's Ariodante and Xerxes to leading ladies in the world premieres of John Harbison's The Great Gatsby and Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy, both at the Metropolitan Opera.

But an early production of Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict in Lyon earned particular raves from the international press for her pristine French diction and innate style, and a triumph as Massenet's Cherubin at Covent Garden sealed her operatic stardom. Invitations to explore more French repertoire came from many of that music's greatest conductors, among them Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, James Levine, and Seiji Ozawa. New productions of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, Berlioz' La Damnation de Faust, and Massenet's Werther were mounted for her in New York, London, Paris, Chicago, and San Francisco and elsewhere. She added the title role of the great Offenbach comedy La belle Hélène in 2005 at Santa Fe and will follow with La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein next summer. Just weeks ago she was hailed internationally in the pinnacle role of Didon in Berlioz's Les Troyens at the Metropolitan Opera, broadcast live on cinema screens worldwide as part of the Met's HD program.

This affinity for the French repertoire has not been limited to the operatic stage, and indeed it serves as the foundation of an extensive concert and recital career. The great oratorios and symphonic song cycles such as Berlioz's La mort de Cléopâtre and his Les nuits d'été, Ravel's Sheherezade and Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer have been among works taking her to the world's leading orchestras, including regular appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Orchestre de Paris, and the London Symphony. A distinguished discography includes not only all the above works, but also treasurable solo albums such as the program of mélodies entitled Un frisson Francais with pianist Malcolm Martineau (Onyx), an album of 20th century operetta rarities C'est ça la vie, c'est ça l'amour! for Erato, and La Belle Époque, an award- winning collection of songs by Reynaldo Hahn with pianist Roger Vignoles, for Sony.

Visit her website

Suzanna is an ex Ms. Natural Olympia bodybuilding champion, who has converted into the game of tennis at late age and passionately plays every day. Even with all her training background and fitness skills, tennis started to create pesky imbalances in her body. Suzanna was determined to stop that and started to focus on tennis specific training and injury prevention. Over the years, she has developed special and effective techniques for injury prevention.

Suzanna is certified by National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) as a Performance Enhancement Specialist and Corrective Exercise Specialist.

Suzanna is passionate about teaching people everything necessary for them to become healthy, fit and pain-free. She has published several books and is a regular writer for many websites, such as Active,LIVESTRONG, Examiner, NaturalNews, and more. She was born in Europe, has two Masters in computer science, speaks 6 languages and loves to learn new things. Suzanna is available for private or group training, guest writing and public speaking. She resides with her chocolate Labrador Zuzi in Venice Beach, California.

Interested to read more about Suzanna's background? Read her bio, watch aninterview with Oscar Wegner on YouTube, or follow Suzanna on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzannatennisfitness

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Suzie Plakson has played a wide range of roles in film and television, including: A nice Midwestern mom on How I Met Your Mother, a nasty ex-wife on Everybody Loves Raymond, a gay gynecologist on Mad About You, a curmudgeonly sportswriter on Love and War, a tall personal assistant in Wag the Dog, a smart alec flight attendant in Redeye, a disgruntled engineer in Disclosure, and of course, a Vulcan, a half-Klingon, an Andorian and a Q on various Star Trek television series.

Also a voiceover artist, Suzie has played Monica Devertebrae on the series Dinosaurs, as well as a variety of guest voices on Dinosaurs, King of the Hill, Family Guy, and Futurama.

In addition, she has appeared in many theatrical productions, performing such roles as: the lead opposite Anthony Newley in the USA revival tour of Stop the World I Want to Get Off, Marquise Therese du Parc in La Bete on Broadway, and Maleficent in a Disney spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.

Suzie is also a singer, a sculptor, and a writer. She has written a diverse range of material, including the one-woman stage show An Evening With Eve, the gift book The Second Going, the true story Kicking It (published on Freshyarn.com), and the original album DidnWannaDoIt! (available for purchase from Amazon.com and iTunes), which spawned the video performance art piece of the title cut.

Check out Suzie's official website and listen to her music! You can buy her music on iTunes.

Suzie wrote: "Bravo to this site! Thanks for it - I'm honored to be on it... Best and brightest to my fellow tall gals!"

Help Suzie kickstart her current creative project  "The Return of King Lillian" and make sure to visit her official Facebook  Page.

Tall stories: Five Northern Ireland ladies tell us about the high life

Some of the world's most beautiful women stand around six feet tall. Think of a supermodel and the chances are she is over six feet tall - and that's before she has pulled on a pair of teetering heels and strode down the runway.

Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum and Erin O'Connor are all at least 5ft 10ins, while iconic beauties such as the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was also about an inch off the six foot mark,- once she had slipped into a pair of courts and added a hat Prince Charles could look like a rather small man indeed.

To put it all into some sort of lofty perspective, the height of the average woman in the UK is a diminutive 5ft 3ins. No wonder, then, that so many of us can only look up to these fashion icons with envy.

After all, we imagine, clothes would look so much better if our legs were just a couple of inches longer. How easy it would be to stand out from the crowd - quite literally.

Then again, maybe our longing to be taller amounts to the height of nonsense. In a world where the average rules, many taller ladies complain that finding clothes to suit their measurements isn't easy - hence the rise of chains such as Long Tall Sally.

And then, of course, there is the delicate area of relationships.

Some might reckon it would take a big man indeed to be happy to step out with a woman who was, er, head and shoulders above him. Just look at how quickly Caroline Wozniacki stuck the stiletto in when Rory McIlroy ended his relationship with her, with the low blow that being single meant it would be nice to be able to wear heels again.

So, what is it really like to be a tall woman? We talk to five ladies about the long and short of it.

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Story by Ruthe Stein Photography by Russell Yip | November 10, 2016

Jessie Shepherd’s pride in her figure — all 6-feet-4 of it — is reflected in her decision to take up burlesque in her late 20s. She performs at the Elbo Room in the Mission as Lilith De Fee.

Half her stage name derives from the mythical archetype of female independence, and the other half pays homage to a burlesque dancer from the 1940s, who was the same height as Shepherd.

“Her name was Lois De Fee, but they called her Superwoman. She was awesome,” Shepherd said. Strolling through downtown San Francisco in 3-inch heels, she might be described the same way.

Shepherd is part of a generation of women in their 20s and 30s who grew to heights taller than Mom and sometimes even Dad. The Internet has become a conduit for them to bond through blogs like Tall Swag and Height Goddess. Over the past five years or so, online shopping has made it increasingly possible for tall women to find fashionable clothes designed for their particular frames.

Tall Bay Area women, emboldened by their numbers and stylish attire, say they’ve forsaken slouching and revel in soaring over everyone, including boyfriends. When George Clooney dated the 6-foot-plus wrestler Stacy Keibler, he marveled at her confidence. “But then what would she be afraid of? Low-flying planes?” he mused.

Earlier this year, Mattel toy company introduced Tall Barbie, an elongated version of the original. For a living, breathing role model, the women interviewed cited Michelle Obama. At just under 6 feet tall, she doesn’t hesitate to wear high heels, resulting in her appearing taller than the president.

“I used to be really quiet and self-conscious as a high schooler,” Shepherd recalled. “But when I went to college I just stopped giving a s—. It was like, ‘Yeah, OK, I’m tall. If you have a problem with that, whatever.”’ Shepherd has been a makeup artist and now works at a Berkeley bookstore, where she discovered Lois De Fee.

Feeling positive about her height led Shepherd to be comfortable with her physique, which led to her titillating hobby. “I have always been into theatrics. I guess I have a little exhibitionism in me but I didn’t realize it until I tried burlesque,” she said.

Tall women are accustomed to stares and questions about their height. Most common is whether they play basketball. They’re also asked if they model. (The opportunity comes up infrequently because women’s clothes are designed for 5-foot-7 bodies.)

Tourists, especially from countries where the population is generally shorter, often want to take a selfie with Shepherd. “I have what I call ‘tall days,’ when for no reason I can figure out I might get approached 10 times about my height,” she said.

The 6-foot-3 author Arianne Cohen said she wrote “The Tall Book” in 2009 because “there are books about every bodily form you can imagine, but there were no books about height, and it has been such a major part of my life for as long as I can remember.” In it she quotes studies showing tall people do better in the workplace. “It’s because shorter people perceive them as more competent,” Cohen said.

An optimal size for a mate is one of the biggest issues faced by women of a certain height. Cohen used to turn down dates who weren’t at least eye to eye with her while standing. Spotting a very tall man out with a short woman would infuriate her; she believed she would be a better fit.

“I got over it and it has helped my life immensely,” she said. “When you become a little more mature and start dating for the right reasons, you aren’t quite as intensely focused on the packages that people’s bodies come in.”

Alicia Jay, 35, senior manager of Game Experience for the Golden State Warriors who has her own personal style blog (http://www.tallswag.com/) and is the model in the images accompanying this article, recalls traumatic teen years when she was never asked out. “To this day men are still intimidated by my height, but now I know that my height is a very beautiful thing; it doesn’t bother me,” said Jay, who stands 6-foot-6. “I look at it as another way to weed out the men that aren’t the one. If you can’t handle my height, why would I want you anyway? Love me in my entirety or vacate the premises.”

The upside of being tall has revealed itself with passing years: “People are incredibly intrigued, which gives us an advantage in every situation. We are conversation starters,” Jay said. “Who else holds the presence of a room just by walking into it?”

Lynn Janicki and her identical twin sister, Kate Johnson, have been turning heads for most of their 32 years. Janicki, a 6-foot-2 marketing director in San Francisco, recalls growing up in tandem with her sister. During their early teens, they would be asked out by 17- and 18-year-olds fooled by their height into thinking the twins were older.

Janicki’s height is what attracted her husband, who stopped her on the street to ask where she was heading. They’re the same height, and Janicki wears heels no higher than 3 inches in deference to him.

By contrast, Rajahnique Jones, a 34-year-old court reporter from Antioch, goes for 4-inch heels to elevate her to 6-foot-4. She won’t date anyone shorter. “I always want to feel protected like I did walking with my dad,” she said.

While blogging at tallnnatural.com, Jones realized that many tall women still don’t feel comfortable or are hesitant to wear heels. She started posting photos of herself exquisitely put together. “A lot of people send me messages saying I inspire them.”

Jones’ main goal is to impress her 14-year-old daughter, who is already 5-foot-9. “I am just trying to be a good example to her. I want to let her know that tall is beautiful.”

Ruthe Stein is a San Francisco freelance writer. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CREDITS: Photography: Russell Yip Styling: Mary Gonsalves Kinney Hair & Makeup:Nicole Notarte Model: Alicia Jay Styling assistant: Elise Filter Von Arx

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Looks like the Huffington Post has fallen in love with tall women

When you're living life at the extreme end of the height spectrum, certain issues the average person might never expect present themselves regularly.

We've already covered the truth about life as only short girls know it, and now it's time to look elsewhere - or more specifically, look up.

Tall girls are a particular breed, part supermodel, part awkward giraffe... and don't even get us started on how tough it is to date. We pulled together some of the joys and sorrows that are daily encounters for the vertically blessed among us. Any of these ring true for you?

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Courtney Henry always hated picture day in elementary school. Growing up in West Palm Beach, Fla., she dreaded the ignoble tradition of making the tallest kid in the class stand in the center of the back row.

That student was always her.

"I was tall, I was black, and I was skinny," Henry recalls. "I was everything that was really not cool from, like, the third grade."

The daughter of a collegiate basketball player, Henry was an unathletic child whose parents paraded her in and out of several sports. Nothing went well. Then, for her ninth birthday, her mother signed her up for dance classes. She was three years older than most of the girls, and towered over them, but she had talent. The teacher urged Henry's mother to find a better studio. Henry began to dream of becoming a dancer, and that desire only deepened as she grew taller.

"I had to work harder," she said. "That was instilled in me from a pretty young age, because I knew I would be standing out."

At 6 feet tall, Henry is, quite possibly, the tallest professional female ballet dancer in the United States.

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Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's self-titled debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. "Our Song", her third single, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number one song on the Hot Country Songs chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Swift's third album, 2010's Speak Now, sold over one million copies in its first week of US release. The album's third single, "Mean", won two Grammy Awards. In 2012, Swift released her fourth album, Red. Its opening US sales of 1.2 million were the highest recorded in a decade, with Swift becoming the only female artist to have two million-plus opening weeks. The singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" were worldwide hits.

Swift is known for narrative songs about her personal experiences. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift's other achievements include seven Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards, eleven Country Music Association Awards and seven Academy of Country Music Awards. To date, she has sold over 26 million albums and 75 million digital single downloads. Forbes estimates that she is worth over $220 million.[citation needed] In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared as an actress in the ensemble comedy Valentine's Day (2010) and the animated film The Lorax (2012). As a philanthropist, Swift supports arts education, children's literacy, natural disaster relief, LGBT anti-discrimination efforts, and charities for sick children.

Source: Wikipedia

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