My first time encountering Black media legend Dana Owens, aka Queen Latifah, was on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. At some point in elementary school, I was watching reruns on BET, and Will was meeting yet another female guest star. I was surprised when I saw Dee Dee; she was nearly as tall as Will and had what my granny would call a fuller figure. It was the first time any woman on the show, let alone a love interest for Will, looked like me.

Plus, she was awesome. When Will made an inadvertent size reference, she bagged on his skinny frame and big ears. She won him over with her sense of humor, and was never afraid to call him on his shit. This wasnt the first time I wanted to emulate a TV character (Id had a whole thing with Susie Carmichael from Rugrats and Francine Frensky from Arthur at that point). But it was the first time the character looked so much like me: not just Black, but tall and plus-size too.