Shelby Rose by Kyle Deleu for Playboy US November/December 2018

Shelby Rose is on a mission. “I want to empower people with curves,” she says. “Specifically that in-between curvy size that’s not really represented. There’s not much praise out there for women who are the size I am.”
Our November Playmate didn’t always possess this sense of purpose. A native of Orlando, Florida and one of five siblings raised in a conservative Christian household, Shelby began modeling at the age of 18. Having relocated to New York City, she spent two years bouncing from job to job in England, Italy, Switzerland and Germany—all the while maintaining her studies at Miami Dade College, which granted her a degree in public relations. But she reached a sharp turning point during a stint in China, where she found herself forcing her body to be thinner than it should be—a reaction, she says, to agents calling her fat every day.

Now she’s back in New York, finally and fully embracing her physique. “You’ve got to have a good image about yourself,” she says. “Probably not as many girls will pose nude because they feel they’re too voluptuous. If you have curves, flaunt them. Enjoy them!”

Shelby acknowledges that her decision to pose for playboy may come as a shock to people who know her back home. “But I don’t really care!” she says. “I’m open. I like to try things. I’m not one of those people who are like, ‘I’m just going to sit in my square little life.’ ”

These days, Shelby is anything but penned in. In addition to modeling, she’s putting her degree to use, running the social media account for a skin-care line. And she has discovered another passion of late: “I feel my strongest and sexiest when I’m boxing.” It comes as no surprise that strength and sexiness are synonymous for this fierce, magnetic young woman: “You can’t always be the polished girl,” she says. “You’d better bring out the sexy. Own it.”