Antioch grad competes in Miss California

"When the pageant called they said that they wanted to have real women in the competition," Sabella said. "At first I thought it was a joke."

The call wasn't a joke. Over the next several months, Sabella went through several interviews and auditions to make sure that she would make a good contestant. As she continued on she found that the pageant representatives were no longer only interested in contestants who fit in a size zero or even a two, but women who represented all that a woman can be.

"That was fine with me because I am interested in promoting a positive body image," she said.

When all was said and done, Sabella was one of 170 contestants to compete for the Miss California seat. Once chosen, Miss California would then go on to represent the state at the Miss America pageant.

Sabella, who is a 2005 Antioch High graduate, wound up representing San Francisco's North Beach as a representative of the modeling company she works for. The company is called "Little in the Middle," which sells plus-size clothing.

"A lot of women have a problem getting clothes to fit them," she said. "These clothes come in real women's sizes," she said.

Little in the Middle is based in both San Francisco and Florida.

As part of her job Sabella attends modeling and fashion shows that many times feature special talks with girls encouraging them to have a positive self-image and showing them that there are clothes that can make them look good and feel good about themselves no matter what their size.

While growing up Sabella always wanted to be an entertainer. When she was 12 years old she was a budding singer and hoped to go to the Olympics for the Performing Arts. Two months before the competition Sabella developed nodules on her vocal cords. This caused her to go mute and left her unable to speak for a year.

"The doctor said that I might not ever be able to talk again, but I kept positive and kept thinking about what I wanted to do," she said.

During that time she decided if she ever did get her voice back again she would become an entertainer, including singing, acting, as well as encouraging young people to keep a good self-image and have a positive attitude.

"She always spoke proudly of her curves and tried to encourage her peers to feel good about themselves as well, that being healthy was most important and not everyone can be what they see in all the glamour magazines, even if they starved themselves," Lia's mother, Jacque Sabella, said.

To that end Sabella is continuing to work on her career. She is writing her own music, which is meant to be inspirational. She has her own style of hip-hop and R&B. She is working on a Web site that will feature her music and inspirational content. She is also working on developing an afterschool program based on this same theme at a San Francisco school.

"Most kids don't know that there is help out there for them and someone to support them, someone who has gone through the same things they have," she said.

Sabella is one semester away from graduating from City College in San Francisco with her cosmetology degree. She not only models, but she is also working as a makeup artist for a company that does fashion shows throughout the city.

As for the Miss California contest, Sabella didn't make the final cut — Miss Sherwood, Nicole Johnson, won the crown — but she was happy to have had the chance to compete, she said. During her time there she met another plus-size model and already has become good friends with her.