Rosie Mercado (born March 28, 1980) is an American plus-size model, celebrity makeup artist,

fashion design Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and plac ...

er and television personality of

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

descent. She is best known for starring in reality television show '' Curvy Girls'' on

NuvoTV NuvoTV (formerly known as Sí TV) was an American cable television network. It was launched on February 25, 2004, and catered to the Latino community with exclusively English-language programming. It ended operations on September 30, 2015, when i ...

and featuring on

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

's ''

Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

''. She is currently a special correspondent and life coach on the TV shows ''The Doctors'' and ''Dr. Phil'' and a co-host on the entertainment talk show '' Face The Truth''.

Early life

Mercado was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and grew up in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

but she spent most of her life in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

when her parents moved their business there. Mercado is of

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

descent; her parents are from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

and Zacatecas. Her parents have a business in Las Vegas and she comes from an entrepreneurial background. Mercado credits her father as "a visionary in all the businesses he has created". Mercado's parents have always has been supportive of her in life and her career. She attended Bishop Gorman High School and left in 1999. She was one of five Latinos who attended the private school. In high school, she was a '

tomboy A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. Wh ...

' and felt that she did not fit in because of her size (which has driven her to promote plus-size diversity in the entertainment industry). She was called "a big girl with a pretty face" or "the girl with the pretty face and the big ass", and was bullied because of her weight. Mercado studied Business Management at

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. Since she was young, Mercado had the desire to make it in the fashion industry, but she had insecurities primarily fueled by her weight issues. She admired

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

and

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

Modeling career

Mercado broke into the fashion industry within four years. She started off in modeling as a photographer; she was trying to build her business but didn't have the money to hire professional models. A celebrity photographer told her that she had a beautiful face and that she should be modeling. She had taken pictures of herself but was often rejected because of her size. Many times fashion industry people liked her face in her portfolio but balked after seeing her in person due to her size, and told her that if she lost weight she would have more work.

Media career

Mercado started working at the age of 15, Mercado was a radio personality in Las Vegas as an early morning host. She went on to work for

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...

and Univision doing red carpet interviews with high-profile Latino celebrities. She did voiceover work for English and Spanish national and international commercials. In 2011, Mercado featured on

's ''

''. She has appeared on National and International Television, From Telemundo and Univision and is a special correspondent with the shows ''Dr. Phil'' and ''The Doctors (talk show), The Doctors'' on CBS. She is considered one of the top 6 influential Latinas to follow by Latina Magazine and Univsion. In 2012 and 2013, she starred in season one and two of

's reality television show ''Curvy Girls'' which captured the daily life of four plus-size models as they realized their dreams in the fashion world. In June 2013, she was a special guest on ''Ricki Lake (TV series), The Ricki Lake Show'', speaking about plus-size swim fashions. She is a co-host on a talk show produced by Dr.Phil called '' Face The Truth'' on CBS and has her book coming out in 2019 with publishing company Harper Collins One.

Makeup and fashion design

Mercado turned her makeup skills into a career. She was a celebrity makeup artist who worked in magazines, TV and film. She also took her designing skills and launched her first collection of dresses in 2013 celebrating the beauty of plus size women around the world.

Weight

After letting her weight increase to well over 400 pounds,http://www.people.com/article/rosie-mercado-lost-210-lbs-after-being-told-wouldnt-fit-in-plane-seat" Mercado managed to start losing weight to deal with mobility issues and embarrassment as she became larger and larger. She was chosen to be the face of Full Figured Fashion Week in 2010 still weighing over 350 pounds. By 2012, she had gotten her weight down to 178 pounds. Though once a size 32/34 at her biggest, she is currently a size 12, and now advocates that it is unhealthy for other women to be overweight. In August 2017 Mercado implied to Us Weekly, US weekly that she is currently about 160 pounds.

Personal life

Mercado lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, California. She is a single mom of three children, a daughter (born 2000) and two sons (born 2006 and 2007). In 2013, Mercado graduated from Tony Robbins Mastery University. She promotes body diversity and is now a lifestyle coach that inspires women to embrace their authentic beauty and self love and acceptance, and her and her husband had a son in March 2020.

References

External links

* *Penn, Stephanie
The Talented Ms. Rosie Mercado
''Daily Venus Diva''. August 1, 2011 *Matthews, Philippe
Rosie Mercado Is Curvalicious!
''The PM Show''. October 31, 2012 *Jara, Jose
LatinoScoop.com chats with Curvy Girls – Rosie Mercado!
''LatinScoop.com''. March 7, 2013 *Hall, Debbie
Everything’s Coming Up Rosie – A one on one interview with rising star Rosie Mercado
''Resist Magazine''. July 15, 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercado, Rosie 1980 births Living people American television personalities of Mexican descent American actresses of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American female models Hispanic and Latino American actresses Plus-size models American make-up artists American fashion designers American talk radio hosts American women radio presenters American television actresses American television hosts American motivational speakers Women motivational speakers Participants in American reality television series Female models from Los Angeles Radio personalities from California Actresses from Los Angeles Businesspeople from California People from Riverside, California Bishop Gorman High School alumni University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni American women television presenters American women fashion designers 21st-century American women