I first met Tressie McMillan Cottom the way most normal people do — under the bright lights of an Oprah special. What in the world. I sat on a panel alongside Rebel Wilson, Amber Riley, Katie Sturino, Jamie Kern Lima, Busy Philipps, and others to talk about diet culture, the shame we carry around our bodies, and how we can shift the conversation toward acceptance. But the entire room was gobsmacked by Tressie — because of course we were. She’s a brilliant cultural thinker, a professor at UNC Cha