*UPDATE 7/8/2010: Lane Bryant and Eliza Parker has agreed to sponsor this giveaway and help promote Team Gabi. On behalf of Gabi and myself I'd like to thank them for their support. We truly appreciate all of you! 

As many of you may know, our beautiful friend Gabi from Young, Fat and Fabulous is one of the 20 finalists for the MTV Twitter Jockey (TJ) contest.The competition will be held during the month of July, and the winner will move to NYC, get a one year contract with MTV, and make 100,000 per year! To help spread the word I am holding a giveaway to give someone a chance to win a prize for helping support the Team Gabi Campaign! Two winners will be chosen! The prize is a $50.00 gift card to Lane Bryant or Eliza Parker.

Gabi absolutely needs our love and support. She has been such a big voice in the plus size fashion community. She has inspired so many women to become comfortable with their bodies and to explore their own style. I have been a huge fan for some time now and I appreciate everything that she stands for. Being body positive is not just about loving yourself, it is also about giving each other the support that we need to succeed. That is why I am hosting a contest to help rally support for Gabi!

If you happen not to know who Gabi is you can check out her TJ Bio Page and also view the video below. 

Anyone who has been reading YFF for a while knows that living in New York City is a huge dream of mine. I tried moving there last summer but ran out of money and had to come back to the midwest. As much as I love fashion, I also love social media and popular culture; this is an amazing opportunity, and I truly need all of your support! How great would it be if there was a fashionable, body-positive plus size girl working in mainstream media (and MTV at that)? Plus, if I win, I can guarantee A LOT more outfit posts...can you imagine my wardrobe if I actually had steady income? Man.

The main thing I need you guys to do is FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY (my username is @gabifresh). There will be a series of challenges and you will have to follow me there in order to help! The more followers and interaction I have with you guys, the better. Secondly, PLEASE help spread the word and tell your friends to follow me. Post on your blogs, facebook, twitter pages, youtube channels, or anything else you can think of! (If you have any additional connections or creative ideas, feel free to email me!) Out of the 20 of us, the top 5 will go to NYC for a week and compete there, and then a live finale show will air on MTV and the winner is determined by votes....meaning I cannot do this alone! My biggest fear is that people will say "oh, how nice! I hope you win!" but not actively help me in this journey, but I hope that's not the case. I love you all so much, thank you for your continued support! I will of course keep you updated as things progress.

1. You MUST be a follower of @gabifresh and @Tupieta on Twitter.

2. Your campaign can include any medium. You can use your blog, facebook. twitter, myspace, youtube, flickr, or any combination you'd like. Even retweeting this post counts. The main goal is to spread the word and get people excited about Gabi. Be as simple or creative as you like but most importantly HAVE FUN!

3. You can submit your entry by commenting below with link(s) to your campaign. Photos and videos will also be added to the Team Gabi Tumblr page.

4. A winner will be chosen from the comments below using a random number generator.

 A winner will be chosen by July 30th. Remember that Gabi will be participating in challenges. This is the most crucial period where she will need as much interaction from everyone as she can get so keep those campaigns going. If chosen, she will then compete as a top 5 finalist live on MTV on August 8.

We truly appreciate all of your support! Please spread the word about this contest as much as you can (even if you choose not to participate). The more entries, the more we know the word is getting out! If you have any trouble submitting you may send it by email tupieta@gmail.com

Have fun and good luck!