TikTok has over one billion (yes, with a "b") monthly users, making it one of the most popular social media apps ever. It's home to viral dance crazes, sometimes cringey prank videos, and lots of creative people pumping out tons of new content daily. While it's sometimes linked to controversy, it's an app that has massive potential to help people do good.
One such user is Summer Lucille, who is known as @juicybodygoddess on TikTok. Summer ā a proudly plus size woman from North Carolina ā has over 940,000 followers who are all tuning in for her uplifting message. Summer says it is officially āfat girl summer,ā and is offering up tips on how to dress a banging curvy body, to help voluptuous ladies feel beautiful and confident.
Are we here for all that? Yes, please!
Summer wants to inspire others while building a brand.
Summer is so committed to spreading fat-girl joy and fashion ideas that she even recently opened a store, called Juicy Body Goddess. Her dream of creating online and in-person spaces where it is āOK to have a stomach and itās OK to love yourselfā started with first accepting herself as a fat person, she explained to Good Morning America.
After trying every diet out there (including the infamous cabbage soup situation) and experiencing trauma at the hands of a personal trainer who screamed at her, she hit her breaking point. As all strong women have to do, she decided to get on her own side.
"You know what? I am fat. And I'm not gonna let anybody use that against me. Never again."
Summer realized that she'd "wasted so many years dieting in this sick diet, toxic culture, and I wish I could just turn back the hands a time and just enjoy life."
Enter TikTok and the world of fun plus size fashion!
In her TikTok videos, many of which have gone viral, Summer showcases cute, sexy, and fun fashion from her store and helps her followers understand that confidence that can come from well-fitting clothes.
"Being fat and shopping should be a happy experience! I always want customers to feel comfortable and beautiful," notes Summer. This shouldn't be a noteworthy goal as every store should want to make all customers feel happy, right? But research has shown fat customers often face negative experiences while shopping, including discrimination from sales clerks.
Women are coming from all over the world to have a better shopping experience.
Summer is a one-woman hype machine, so it's no surprise that some of her TikTok followers are flocking to her new store. Many plus size women can relate to Summer's own experiences with feeling like stores didnāt want her business.
"I couldnāt find anything. Going shopping and not finding things that are cute or trendy initiated the diet toxic culture inside of me, because it really wasn't that I wanted to be skinny. I just wanted to fit into smaller clothes like my friends in high school, you know what I mean?" she explained to GMA.
Inside her store, Summer is intentional about wanting "women people to understand that fat does not mean ugly. Fat does not mean lazy. Fat is just a word. It has power and you can embrace it and you can love it."
Her TikTok is filled with women trying on outfits that flaunt curves, show off some serious skin, and play with color and pattern in a way that breaks all the outdated rules about trying to dress to look skinnier. Self-confidence is the vibe and that vibe is really what "hot girl summer" should be all about.
Summer isnāt afraid to take on the haters.
Women who dare to be fat and exist on the internet are almost certain to attract trolls and people who love to body shame. But Summer isn't afraid to step into the comments and fire back at critics who donāt like her TikTok videos or the fact that she caters to plus-size women at her store.
We spotted her in the comments of an ABC News post on Facebook cheekily telling all the people "hating" that she was going to "fat more harder…eating double today, just for you".
We love a queen with a sense of humor! With her fashion, attitude, and increased visibility on national media, we think @JuicyBodyGoddess is on track to join the one million follower club on TikTok soon, and that is a good thing for all the people looking for some body positivity in the social media space. We canāt wait to see it!
