By Barrett White
Houston-based plus-size model and entrepreneur Tiffany Page-Pratt learned the definition of hustle from her mother. A hardworking woman, her mom sold Avon and Tupperware on top of her full-time job at the post office. “Watching [my mother] was what built my ambitions,” Page-Pratt says. “For starters, it takes a lot to be a single mother, but to also juggle two and three jobs—I commend my mom for that.”
P.H.A.T. Divas founder Tiffany Page-Pratt.
In sixth grade, Page-Pratt participated in her first fashion show (a fundraiser for a class trip to Washington, DC), and her passion for modeling took off. In just a few short years, she was presented with an offer from John Casablancas, but her mother said no. “’You’re going to keep that head in these books,’” Page-Pratt laughs, quoting her mother. “’[You can model] after high school,’ she told me.”
Undeterred, she graduated high school in her hometown of New Orleans at age 17. “Being a plus-size girl, there weren’t many options,” she explains. “They loved my walk, they loved my smile, they loved my fierceness, but in the end, they usually said, ‘Well, I’m sorry, but we’re not looking for your type right now.’”
A P.H.A.T. Divas model strikes a pose at the agency’s first fashion show in 2018.
In 2006, the film Phat Girls, which centers a plus-size clothing designer trying to make it in mainstream fashion, was released. “That film opened my eyes,” Page-Pratt says. But rather than designing, Page-Pratt instead wanted to encourage, teach, and uplift other plus-size models. Borrowing the name of the film (and attaching the acronym “Pretty, Hot, And Thick”), Page-Pratt officially launched the P.H.A.T. Divas professional modeling agency in 2010. “Now, many of the mainstream fashion agencies discriminate [against] plus-size models,” Page-Pratt says. “I want to be realistic. We use plus-size models, but we don’t discriminate against the ‘slimmies’ either. We don’t discriminate, we incorporate. We accept all sizes and all heights.”
In 2015, Page-Pratt moved from her home in NOLA, where she had been shuffling P.H.A.T. Divas to and from the back burner for a few years, to seek better opportunities in Houston. Since arriving in Space City, she’s made a conscious effort to consistently hold photo shoots and book gigs to keep the company relevant—and it’s worked. “We finally did our first fashion show in 2018 with Melrose—10 models, male and female, for an in-store fashion show,” she recalls. “We also do modeling classes, by appointment.”
In July of this year, she’ll host an open-call talent show for singers, rappers, writers, you name it. “But no [pyrotechnics] or anything, please!” she laughs.
The agency’s Melrose fashion show featured 10 models, both male and female.
By her side during the trajectory of her self-made career has been her wife, Dyanna. “Now, I used to date men,” Page-Pratt explains. “But I was curious.” After allowing herself space to explore her sexuality, Page-Pratt was soon head-over-heels for her then-girlfriend. When that relationship fizzled out, she reconnected with Dyanna, an old friend, who quickly became a new flame. The pair have now been together for 12 years. In addition to the morale support, Dyanna also runs the male side of P.H.A.T. Divas, DeModa Fashions, in addition to her own graphic design and printing business.
The pair waited to marry until it was legal nationwide—“but before Barack Obama left office,” she clarifies. “We decided to get married in the courts before Trump took office, but we finally had our ceremony last year.”
In addition to running her business, Page-Pratt has another full-time job—being a brand-new mom, much to her Catholic mother’s excitement. “It was so funny,” Page-Pratt remembers. “When I was dating men, [mom] was all, ‘Don’t do this! Don’t do that!’ But as soon as I brought home a woman, it was, ‘But I want grandkids!’” And as much as Page-Pratt loves her mother, it appears to pale in comparison to how much her mother loves Page-Pratt’s daughter. “That’s her baby,” she says. “She’ll call me and ask, ‘How’s my baby girl doing,’ meaning me, and then she’ll ask, ‘Now, how’s my little baby girl doing?’”
For more information on P.H.A.T. Divas, including classes and pricing, visit their website. They can also be found on Facebook.
