Picture: by Tom Corbett

by Nisha Chopra

A Dartford woman wants to empower young women by becoming Britain's first black, plus-sized supermodel.

Philomena Kwao, 22, of Lansbury Crescent has just won a nationwide competition to find the new face of plus-sized fashion.

Her prize was a spread in Cosmopolitan magazine shot in Miami and contracts with both modelling agency Excel Models 1 and Style369.com - an online fashion store.

Philomena - who's a size 16 - appears in the May issue, on sale now, modelling beach and holiday wear.

She is also busy studying for a Masters degree in International Health Management at Imperial College, London after achieving a first class degree in economics.

She said: "Put Adele on the front cover of Vogue and it sells out, so people do want to see a realistic interpretation of a general woman.

"If you want to do it just give it a go that's the message I'm trying to get across - if you want to get a degree do it, if you want to model, do it as well, it's not impossible."

She concluded: "For me it's about health - everything comes in different sizes and we're not all the same, so it's a positive thing that the fashion and media is accepting a wider audience."