Claudia

I am Claudia Floraunce Fortelka, an international Model and Body Positive spokesperson. I work in numerous fashion areas of modeling including fit modeling and runway. In my personal time I work as a nanny and personal chef. I have a brown belt in Martial Arts and love to paint as a passion. My story is one of humble beginnings as I was born and raised in a small town, St. Florian near Linz, Austria. At the age of 19, I decided to come to America to pursue my dream of becoming an actress and a model. At 5’ll" and a size 4/6 I was ready for the fashion world, received the blessing of my family, and headed to California.

Shortly after arriving in the United States, my weight skyrocketed, I was then diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS. I chose not to let this disease keep me from pursuing my dreams. In my home country Austria at that time, it was unacceptable in our culture for women to be curvy, with only 20% Austrian woman versus 50% of Austrian men being overweight.

PCOS has been a large part of my adult life and has also been a driver in creating the woman I am today. According to Womenshealth.gov PCOS or Polycystic Syndrome affects 1 in 10 women causing issues with health, appearance, and infertility. This is an imbalance of reproductive hormones and metabolism. Struggling with this disease has driven overall life changes to cope and deal with the implications that arise with this type of problem. Implications include: unexpected weight gain where I went from a curvy size 4/6 dress size to a 24/26 dress size. Knowing that my size was not accepted by Hollywood standards, I decided to try every diet pill and diet to lose this weight as quickly as I could. I did not know that one of the side effects of using diet pills was that it can damage the heart tissue. By the age of 33 I had been diagnosed with having a life threatening heart condition called Aortic Aneurysm which required open heart surgery to save my life at that time. My disease has become a learning experience that I can share with others on how being a plus model is more than my size. While being a plus model and role model is important, exercise and eating healthier are just as important. I have turned the negative energy from this disease into positive by loving myself more and spreading that message to others.

I was discovered as an overnight sensation online approximately about 4 years ago and became a YouTube celebrity quite quickly. I took the place of a model who did not show up for her scheduled photo shoot and sprung at an opportunity to follow my dreams and passion. From there my career began to propel to the next level. I was contacted for photo shoots, fashion shows, and numerous other fashion and public events and traveled throughout the US and even back to my home country Austria.

Published Work

Editorial work and features from numerous publications: Woman’s Magazine, Beautiful Magazine, Sophisticated Curves, Urban Magazine, and For Any Woman Magazine.

TV features: Barcroft UK, Germany RTL Explosiv

Worldwide newspaper features: Huffington Post and the DailymailUK

Current work: Fashion and Fit Modeling: Babydoll Couture, Photography, Brand Ambassador for ARTTwear, Fit model for NYDJ, Rock Your Curves Fashion Show