It's a few hours before sunset. Mellow waves are consistently kissing the shoreline. With a few strong strokes, Elizabeth Sneed pops up onto her yellow longboard with ease. She smiles. She is doing something she's always dreamed of: surfing. Sneed launched @curvysurfergirl to showcase plus-size women like her who surf. "I had this idea in my mind that to be a female athlete, you had to be lean, athletic and muscular," she said. "It was very hard to divorce the idea that the body that I had and being an athlete could exist in the same space." Sneed advocates for inclusive surf gear and diversity in the surf world. After rigorously surfing for about three years, it hit her: "Why do I continually have to try to change my body and who I am to meet a standard that I may never be able to meet for as long as I live both from a skill set level as well as a physical aesthetic perspective?" These days Sneed carves up waves three to five days a week. Most often, she's not solo. Thanks to her powerful message of acceptance and well-being, women from around the world – from young adults to grandmothers – travel to Hawaii to catch waves with her. 📷 Courtesy Caroline Carneil, @iamcarolinecarniel, and Emy Dossett, @salty_see