Jewlieah Sena, 29, is a plus-sized social media content creator from the Philippines with over 115K followers on Instagram.
The digital creator, who advocates body-positivity and self-esteem, shares her curvy pictures and videos on social media, influencing people to be themselves and feel happy in their bodies regardless of their size and weight.
In an interview with Caters new agency, Sena said she belongs to a religious family with a pastor father and wasn’t always this confident to show off her curves online. She said she used to cover her body in the past but always felt insecure about her weight.
The influencer said people around her often bullied her for her plus size, and some of her bullies even compared her with different animals, including pigs and hippos.
“In school, I had no attention and no attraction. I grew up in the 90s, when there was a certain image and standard of beauty and me being plus-sized, curvy, and a mixed woman of colour, I was never told I was beautiful for having these features,” said Sena.
“I had no self-worth and a lot of insecurities. Now, I’m working on myself. I’m in a community of other women, and I have confidence – it doesn’t matter if no one was attracted to me before as I’m attractive now.”
The model added that she used to be so insecure about her looks that she even stopped looking at herself in the mirror. But there came a time in her life when she finally decided to embrace her body fat and stopped caring about what people thought about her.
Jewlieah made an Instagram account a few years ago and started sharing her photos online. Her online presence gave her more confidence, and she made an OnlyFans account to show off her curves.
“When I was younger, I was scared to try trendy clothes or wear certain things because of my body shape, but now I will wear crop tops, booty shorts, and tight dresses. I don’t mind showing rolls and cellulite,” she said.
“I constantly get comments on what I wear. Sometimes I have to talk myself up to be able to walk into places though and be confident in what I am wearing, as I know and can tell people don’t like what I wear, she added.
“I do get self-conscious sometimes as I know not everyone sees bigger bodies as beautiful, but I have had so many people support me and tell me that I’m beautiful.”
According to Sena, she is now happier than ever and feels very confident about herself.
“I’m definitely a lot happier than I used to be – I’m a lot more authentic now. I didn’t grow up seeing plus-sized people deemed as beautiful, so I forced myself to be that example,” she continued. “When I was younger, I would get called fat in such a negative way, but I’ve now reclaimed it and I now call myself a fat b***h a lot.”
She said when her friends and classmates, including some of her family members, taunted her because of her weight, called her fat and fatty, and even compared her with animals like hippos, she became so over-conscious about herself and stopped meeting people altogether.
“Being told these things by people close to you – and knowing they viewed you as so undesirable – does a lot to a child, and I grew up with those same beliefs, and so it took many years to come out of it.”
The model, whose current weight is nearly 300 pounds, added that it took her a lot of work to break the norms of her family values and eventually find her true authentic self in the process.
“I grew up very different. I was a pastor’s daughter who was very religious, so it took a lot to break from my religion and find myself. I do have some family in support of what I do, but do have some who don’t understand why I do what I do. But I enjoy it and I enjoy the representation of what I am – I’m very thankful.”
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Source: Caters
