Elly Mayday, 30, is being remembered as a body positive activist who didn't allow her cancer diagnosis slow her modelling career down.
She used her platform to reshape beauty standards for plus-size models and spread awareness about ovarian cancer.
On March 1, her six-year battle with the disease ended.
Born Ashley Luther, she took on the name Elly Mayday and moved to B.C. where she often appeared in modelling campigns for Langley's Forever Yours Lingerie shop.
"She cared so genuinely about anyone she came into contact with. She just had a huge heart," said Amanda Peterson, a manager of Forever Yours Lingerie who became Mayday's friend.
"She was such an amazing person for body positivity."
Mayday was viewed as a pioneer for curvy models.
Although, it was a label she rejected.
“We see a lot of images of girls not smiling in their ads, we see a lot of images of girls depleting their body of nutrition,” Mayday told CTV News in a 2014 interview. “I don’t say ‘plus-size’ because I’m not a plus-size woman. I’m normal size.”
She became a muse for a documentary, which focused on the challenges and success of her plus-size modelling career.
"She was the catalyst for the film," said James Earl O'Brien, producer of "A Perfect 14."
Mayday was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2013 and said she used the diagnosis as "fuel to talk about the things I wanted to talk about, the importance of appreciating the skin you're in and being comfortable with who you are."
"She didn't know she had cancer when we started the film, and she allowed us to film her story and her life," O'Brien said.
The documentary, "A Perfect 14," will have its first Canadian screening during the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival on Thursday.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Julie Nolin and CTV Toronto
