Sarah Hartshorne is a writer, comedian, and content creator best known for none of these things.

Sarah grew up taller, curvier and louder than most of her classmates, which led to an obsession with dieting and dimming her voice. But ultimately, what she was most ashamed of were actually her greatest assets when she competed as the plus-size contestant on Cycle 9 of America’s Next Top Model.

Plus Size Model

While on the highest rated season of ANTM, viewers were charmed by Sarah’s vibrant personality and struggles with fitting into the fashion industry. After the show, she modeled all over the world for clients like Glamour, Vogue, Skechers and more. She also learned that the fashion industry keeps you humble: she was before in a Weight Watchers commercial, and modeled plus-size costumes in a warehouse in New Jersey. After seven years working as a plus size model, she “retired”, gained a bunch of weight and became a plus sized person. Weird how those aren’t the same thing.

Telling her story

Sarah walked away from modeling onto the stage: performing standup all over New York City and the country, as well as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. You can see her on Netflix’s ‘Explained’ and HBO’s ‘Vice’. Her writing has appeared in Guardian, Gawker, Teen Vogue, The Daily Mail, and Self magazine, just to name a few.

Both her standup material and her writing is frank, funny and fierce. And she brings that same energy to her social media presence, where she has over 150,000 followers across platforms. She talks about her experiences on America’s Next Top Model, trying to love herself, and how those two things are sometimes incompatible.

Her book, You Wanna Be on Top? comes out summer 2025.