Victoria Kleinsman interviews Phaith Montoya, a plus-size fashion influencer, about her journey to self-love and body positivity. They discuss Phaith’s struggles with binge eating disorder, society’s fatphobia, and learning to embrace your body no matter its size.
Guest Bio:
Phaith Montoya is a 26-year-old content creator from New Jersey. After losing her teaching job during the pandemic, Phaith found community and passion for sharing fashion advice for plus-size women. She now has over 1 million social media followers.
Key Quotes:
“I think kindness leads me to minding my own business and leads me to not, like, be really harsh and react to everybody’s moves as the way that I feel like people are so critical on the Internet now, but it’s because they’re not kind to themselves.” (00:35:52)
“I think it was just the exhaustion of choosing that first choice for so long…I used to write in my journal all the time, when you’re at this weight, you can wear a bikini to the beach. When you’re at this weight, you’ll be able to do this. You’ll be able to do this. And it was like, oh my gosh. Like, how exhausting, but life waiting for a milestone before I allow myself to live.” (00:27:56)
Main Discussion Points:
❤️ Learning self-compassion and body neutrality after years of disordered eating and fatphobia
💪🏻 Taking small actions to push past body image barriers
🙅🏻♀️ Leaving partners who refuse to unlearn fatphobia and respect your body
👯♀️ Finding community and inspiration from people who love you as you are
🌈 Decentering Eurocentric beauty standards that claim only thin bodies are attractive
I hope you love yourself and your body after listening to this podcast! Sending you so much compassion. Let’s end fatphobia together! 💖
