biography

Jennie Runk (born June 13, 1989) is an American plus-size model. She is best known for appearing in H&M's Summer 2013 beachwear campaign, which was featured on the front page of H&M's United States website in late April 2013. Runk was discovered in 2003 at 13 in a PetSmart in Chesterfield, Missouri by Mary Clarke of Mother Model Management while she was volunteering for the cat adoption department. At the time, she was a size 8, in between straight size and plus-size modeling. The Clarkes told her she needed to either lose weight or gain weight to model. She chose to gain between 10 and 20 lb (4.5 and 9.1 kg) to a size 10–12 to become a plus-size model.