Annelissa Mhloli wanted to try her hand at catching a wave. But the sport made her conscious of her weight. Mhloli was afraid she wasn’t like the other surfers. “I saw that a lot of them were in great shape,” she says. “That was a setback for me because I felt as if I wasn’t going to fit in.” Stereotypes of what plus-size women can and can’t do invaded Mhloli’s mind, threatening to hold her back. Then she got offered her dream job. The only snag? It involved surfing.