Exclusive: Iskra Lawrence Admits She's 'Imperfect': 'I Am Going to Mess Up'

Iskra Lawrence has made a name for herself in the modeling world — especially since she's been an advocate of not having herself be retouched in images.

Over time, she's become someone that girls have looked up to, but she tries not let it go to her head. "There's a certain pressure that comes with it, but I think that's the responsibility of being someone in the public eye," the model, 33, who is partnering with Cupshe on an exclusive 37-piece swim collection, launching on Friday, February 16, exclusively tells Morning Honey. "And you can choose to accept that responsibility and try to be your best self and show others that."

"I also encourage people to see themselves as their own role model. I constantly tell people I'm imperfect. I'm an imperfect human. I am going to mess up if you put me on this perfect pedestal," she continues. "I will never be able to attain that. I've let myself be imperfect and that's helped. There was definitely a point where there were so many eyeballs on me. Body positivity was a trigger word for so long, but I stepped away and talked about body acceptance."

The mom-of-one knows all too well what it's like to constantly be in competition with others — but she encourages everyone to find their own path. "I call it compare and despair," she says. "Life just gets harder. Make sure you're putting protective things in your environment, whether that's unfollowing people who don't make you feel your best or telling people in real life that you're going on a confidence journey."

"Build a little toolbox of ways that help you feel your best. For me, affirmations are key," she adds. "Quite often we are defining ourself with mean or negative words and we have to break that cycle and build ourselves up instead. If you are not going to be your biggest cheerleader, then who will be?"

Since Lawrence has always been someone outspoken about her body, she's excited about her latest venture: partnering with Cupshe on her swimsuit collection, which features a selection of women’s swimsuits and coverups in sizes XS-3X along with matching "mommy and me" boy’s swimwear and men’s swim styles.

Using unretouched imagery, the collection aligns with Lawrence's views on self-love and body acceptance.

Lawrence's vision included no retouching on her body whatsoever. "I always tell people that if it's something I can't remove, we shouldn't remove," she says. "That's been really important to me. Cupshe was all about that from day one. They were supportive of me wanting to do that. Also, being able to make a collection that involves some fun prints, ruffles and frills was amazing. I also got to make suits in different ways. The orange two piece is high-waisted and has underwire, and it's so supportive. We got to tick off so many boxes."

"I've seen the collaborations they've done with so many different amazing influencers and celebrities I've looked up, and I think they do such a good job of capturing their style and also providing size inclusive and prize inclusive swimsuits," she explains. "When I started to wear swimsuits, I was even more impressed by how good the fit and quality was of the fabric."

"I've been aware of other collections they done, and I've worn their suits. I've tried a multitude of different styles from them, and they really care about the fit," she adds. "Just having a team that is passionate about the same things that I am is really important to me. I also care about fit because I don't want to be thrown in something oversized or baggy because I'm in a larger body. I still want it to be stylish and fun and cool. We want to give people bold colors and prints and different styles. Just because you're bigger or curvy doesn't mean you should be covering up. I hope this collection encourages people to wear what you want — not what you think you have to wear."

For more on the collection, click here.