Elvira Tortora

In my 20s, I pursued theater, acting, and singing, but as a full-figured woman in the 70s and 80s, I faced challenges because the industry wasn't inclusive like it is today. I became one of the first large-sized models and that led me into a 30-year career in fashion. I started as a salesperson for Jones New York's women's sizes 14 to 24, traveling the country doing trunk shows. Over 28 years at Jones, I moved up to become a merchandiser and eventually a vice president, working with designers and being influential in how large sizes were fit and designed. At 60, when the company was taken over by a private equity firm, I was let go but treated fairly. With my husband still working, I had the luxury of not needing to go back to work immediately. I started taking cabaret workshops and slowly got back into singing. I wrote a one-woman show called 'The Bookmaker's Daughter' about growing up in Brooklyn as the daughter of a bookie, and performed it for the first time in 2023 at Don't Tell Mama. People kept coming, so we added more shows. I've performed it nine times in Manhattan and also in Boston and the Poconos, and I'm doing it again in April at Chelsea Table and Stage. I've also done a couple of independent movies. I got my SAG card in the 80s from a commercial about women's sizes and never stopped paying those dues, knowing somewhere in my subconscious I'd get back to what I always wanted to do. Now at 71, I finally have the career in entertainment I dreamed of.