Cameron Russell quotes:

My first day of high school, I wore brown boys' corduroys that my mom had sewn Sesame Street elastic into - they were my coolest pants - and a lime green Patagonia fleece that my mom found at Goodwill. I loved fleece.

In the history of the world, all five mass extinctions have been accompanied by massive climate change, so we are facing an incredibly serious threat. In fact, we are technically in the sixth mass extinction right now, and it is the first mass extinction being attributed to humans.

Women are often worried about how they look, and that's not superficial. We know that our appearance has nothing to do with how smart, creative, or hardworking we are, but it plays powerfully into what society decides we are worth.

My last two years of high school, I think I went to Burger King every day for lunch.

At the Big Bad Lab, we build participatory art and media platforms for causes, communities and organizations we care about.

If you are ever wondering, 'If I have thinner thighs and shinier hair will I be happier?' you just need to meet a group of models because they have the thinnest thighs and the shiniest hair and the coolest clothes and they're the most physically insecure women on the planet.

My favorite outfit is baggy black corduroy pants and a baggy T-shirt.

When you're looking through a magazine, you'd think every single person's a different person, but every third girl is actually the same girl in a different outfit and makeup.

My style is definitely not ladylike - frills and bows kinda scare me - but I like the military look because I love that olive green khaki color.

Mass media wants bright lights. Mass media wants crazy clothes.

I usually decide what to wear in the morning, but sometimes, I'll have a favorite coat or sweater or shoes, and I'll wear them everyday for a week!

When I was 16, I definitely burned a couple of bridges by saying, 'I won't do this!' I was not diplomatic about it. I came to a fitting and was like, 'I don't wear fur; cancel this show!'

When I first lived in a model apartment... It was two bunk beds to a room, and the bathroom was constantly in use. I was bringing in Lucky Charms cereal, and one day an agent put a stop to that. She said, 'You're making all the girls fat.' They took it off our grocery order. That was the most dramatic thing that happened.

Statistics show that diversity in the media is pretty dismal. Critical voices from women and people of color are missing from many important conversations.

I've had a few conversations with people who are horrified: who tell me my work is demeaning, is sexist, is negative.

Even if I did give a good talk, is what I have to say more important and interesting than what Colin Powell said?

We can't just pay attention to women who look fantastic in a photograph, because there are a lot of people that have fantastic things to say that don't look like 25-year-old white models.

The rise of the Internet and the camera phone have started to change what stories are accessible.

In 2007, a very inspired New York University Ph.D. student counted all the models on the runway, every single one that was hired, and of the 677 models that were hired, only 27, or less than four per cent, were non-white.

Becoming a model was very counter-culture for my background, which is hyper-liberal, academic and feminist.

For the past few centuries, we have defined beauty as tall, slender figures, femininity and white skin.

Having a couple really great basics makes it easy to dress well every day.

I work hard, but my modeling career gives my views undeserved attention.

Modeling is one of the few professions where women out-earn men, and that's because we're more valuable objects and ornaments.

When I gave a talk at TEDx, I thought that if I did a good job, the video might go viral.

I think it's cooler when girls have favorite pieces of clothing rather than an entirely new wardrobe every few months.

One of the biggest issues for me is campaign finance reform.

The barrier to entry, to being a model, is not hard work. You don't need a degree. You don't need to win an award. It's just about how you look.

Like many young people, I believe I have potential to make a positive impact in the world.

Saying you want to be a model when you grow up is akin to saying you want to win the Powerball when you grow up. It's awesome, and it's out of your control, and it's not a career path.

Modelling is an incredible platform.

You can be anything. You could be the President of the United States or the inventor of the next Internet or a ninja cardio-thoracic surgeon poet, which would be awesome because you would be the first one.

I do get free stuff.

Lately I've been feeling like 50 percent of the great content I read comes from Twitter conversations.

Modelling is no better or worse than many other professions, but it is more obvious, more accessible.

I'm not promoting anything totally unhealthy because I'm not unhealthy. But I am promoting an ideal that's not attainable, and for that I have to feel guilty. I have to assume some blame for that.

Hard work is not why I have been successful as a model.

Fashion is capitalism, and it will be fixed by what the market demands.

[Models] have the thinnest thighs and the shiniest hair and the coolest clothes, and they're the most physically insecure women probably on the planet.

How we look - though it is superficial and immutable - has a huge impact on our lives.

Image is powerful. But image is also superficial.

I hope we all feel more comfortable acknowledging the power of image in our perceived successes and our perceived failures.

Models are the most physically insecure women on the planet,

I have no idea what advantages I truly get, but I know people talk to me and give me time of day because they like how I look.