Jameela Jamil, Actor, Activist & Founder of "I Weigh"

Why She’s a MAKER: After years struggling with an eating disorder, Jamil, who grew up in the U.K, learned to gain confidence in herself and her body becoming a successful Hollywood actress. Her first ""I Weigh"" Instagram post was a selfie with this inspiring message: ""I weigh: Lovely relationship. Great friends. I laugh every day. I love my job. I make an honest living. I'm financially independent. I speak out for women's rights. I like my bingo wings. I like myself in spite of EVERYTHING I've been taught by the media to hate myself about."" Body of Evidence: Since the age of 14, Jamil, one of the few South Asians at her predominantly white all-girls high school, struggled with anorexia — until she was in a car accident that left her immobile. As Jamil taught herself to walk again, she began to gain confidence in herself and her body. Once back on her own two feet, she hit the ground running, breaking barriers for women in British media as the first female host of The Official Chart Show on BBC 1 Radio. Learning how to walk, she says, ""reestablished my relationship with my body and made me realize that I'd really abused it and taken it for granted for a very long time.” The F*ck-It List: After a doctor discovered a lump in Jamil’s breast, she wrote a “F*ck-It List” while waiting to hear the results of her biopsy. “In that week, I decided to make a bucket list— or a fuck it list, as I like to call it — of everything I would do if it turned out not to be cancer.” When the test results came back benign, the British personality took a leap of faith and moved to Los Angeles, in spite of the naysayers. “I was told by — I'd say, nearly everyone — that I was too old, too fat, and too ethnic to try and start a career again in the United States.” Weighing Her Options: After landing her first Hollywood role in the critically-acclaimed TV show, The Good Place, Jamil became infuriated with the sexist judgment of women’s bodies rather than the celebration of their accomplishments. “We're world leaders. We're leading scientists. And yet, we are still being undermined and measured on a scale,"" she says. The actress turned her anger into activism, starting her “I Weigh” movement to tip the scales in favor of women. “I would like to weigh myself in what matters. And that was my financial independence, my activism, my relationship, my amazing friends, the things that I am grateful for. That's what I weigh.” Not a Moment — a Movement: Now Jamil has used her platform to encourage women to join “I Weigh” and the anti-shame revolution. She has gained thousands of followers, encouraging them to post photos of themselves with the weight that really matters. ”I'm done with standing back and watching women be hurt. And, really, we've seen with #MeToo and TIME'S UP, you just have to get loud. And so the revolution is not only coming. It is here.”