Even when I first started modeling, my loyalty to those girls like Molly Goddard, Ashley Williams, and Dilara Findikoglu was important. I like to support them as much as I can. For me, it's as important to walk in their show or wearing their clothes as it is doing a Marc Jacobs show.

Soccer players in L.A. can kind of just walk the streets. They have bigger people to take pictures of. They see Sylvester Stallone walking down the street, I don't think they are going to want an Ashley Cole picture, to be honest.

People will run up to me with tears in their eyes and say, 'You're Ashley Graham?' and I match their enthusiasm and respond, 'Yes, I am!' and all they say is, 'Thank you so much.'

I wasn't put on the cover of 'Sports Illustrated' as a plus-size model; I was put on the cover of 'Sports Illustrated' as a model, as a rookie, as Ashley Graham.

I am more than my measurements. I'm not Ashley Graham just because I'm curvy.

Obviously, when you walk into a room and see people like Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman and Charles Martin Smith behind the camera, it's big time. You just try not to think about it, try and keep up, hold on for the ride.