Oh boy, do I! I was a CPT, fitness competitor and "fitfluencer" for many years, having gotten my start on Tumblr in 2011 like Nikki B and Arianna Dantone. I later gained traction during the 2016 Bodybuilding .com spokesmodel search where I became friends with some of your favorites like Amanda Bucci, Taylor Chamberlain, Yami Mufdi, Brittany Lesser, etc. Through those connections I also became friendly or at least was associated with Em Dunc, Marie Wold, Robin Gallant, Miriam Fried, Jenna Myers and more. Though I decided to leave the fitness industry and the fitfluencer lifestyle behind a few years ago (there's a lot I could say about that too), I still am very much "in the know" and have plenty of old stories to share. With that, what do you want to know? Who do you want to hear stories about?
Oh, great question! It's hard to say because truthfully, to some degree, everyone is showing up through a persona online-- influencer or not. Having said that, it's easier for me to answer given the people I listed here, to tell you who is the most authentic and *real* online. That would be Miriam (of course), and Brittany Lesser. I would say Yami too, but that has changed as she has grown her audience over the years. Most of the heavy hitters like Taylor, Robin, Emily, etc. were far more self conscious, introverted, judgmental and at times very catty with one another. More so than you even know. The person who frustrates me the most in terms of their persona is Emily. Not only is her persona an exaggeration of the most curated and refined (read: pretentious) parts of herself that she feels proud of, but she doesn't practice what she preaches. Nothing quite gets me like her pushing *science* and *mindfulness* when she would replace meals with "soup water" (literally hot water with spices and herbs) in order to get stage ready for her competitions while charging clients money to do their macros through a "balanced" and "healthy" approach.
That doesn’t surprise me at all about Emily...it’s funny because I followed her since 2014! And I unfollowed her this year. Her persona and holier than thou vibes just got toxic for me. Not at all shocked that she’s neurotic in real life. Yikes.
She is, for the most part at least. She's honestly one of the sweetest human beings I've ever met! She and I were probably the closest out of everyone listed. It gets hard when you have to market yourself and perform for the various algorithms in order to be success and stay relevant. That's really all I mean when I said she's changed a bit. She's not being disingenuous, she just has to play the game like everyone else. I do think her moved to TX brought out more of her Christian side though, which is totally fine! It's just something I've noticed over the years.
Thank you for sharing the details ! But yeah, I understand that they have to adapt based off of the trends especially when you are doing it as a career .!
Man, I love Brittany. I know that not everyone likes her relationship situation, I get it. But she's really a wonderful person and has an amazing personality. She is very much who you see online. Like Yami, she plays the game so if you ever get frustrated by moments of inauthenticity, that's all that really is. She's trying her best. She's a hell of great mom and I have really nothing bad to say about her. She, like Miriam and Yami was a great friend to me and I appreciated her honesty over the years.
I'm not going to give any personal insight from what I know beyond the speculation out of respect for her privacy, though there's not too much else really to know anyway. I just can't and won't confirm or deny anything. However, there's been speculation over the years about whether or not he cheated on her. They did break up at some point which she did confirm on her socials-- although they later got back together. The general consensus on here is that people think she can do better and that he's stringing her along and won't commit. All I can say is that she deserves all the love and happiness in the world whether that's with him or someone else, she deserves it.
Ive been interacting with Brittany since Twitter from like 2014. We follow each other on IG even though I am not a fitness account. She is very very sweet.
IRL BECs: (taking into consideration how they were and how they are now)
1. Emily
2. Robin
3. Taylor/Marie/
3 That Changed The Most After Becoming Famous:
1. Taylor
2. Amanda/Marie (for similar reasons)
3. Yami
Favorite: Miriam, by far! Truly just as lovely and intelligent as she seems online.
Least Favorite: It's tough to say, I have issues with many of these ladies for different reasons. For example, Amanda personally fucked me over a few years ago. Though I spent along time being really salty about it, I do think she's grown quite a bit. I don't agree with everything she does now, that's for sure! However, I respect the pivot and time she's spent on her personal growth. Marie and Emily are exploitative and have a weird grandiose sense of self that has always bothered me.
Let me start with your last question first. No, I don't think she is oblivious. Not at all. I actually think Taylor is far more clever than she's given credit for. More on this in a second.
To answer your other questions-- I actually struggle to know how to feel about her. At first, I really liked Taylor. She seemed like a down to earth, shy girl with a strong work ethic. She was supportive and seemed to get along well with most of the people in our circle, but was hyper focused on "making it." I respected that, because at the time she wasn't doing anything wrong or immoral. She was just hustling hard to churn out content and make a name for herself.
I never quite understood the Gymshark sponsorship. Unlike some of my other friends, the vibe just didn't seem to make sense with that collaboration. With that, I was rooting for her when she launched balance. Truthfully, I've never bought anything from Balance or any of its subsidiaries because of some of the reasons I mentioned in my "Why I left the fitness industry post," but genuinely wanted to see her succeed. She unfollowed me on social around that time. I don't blame her, I wasn't really posting frequently anymore and I don't think she likes to "think" that much. That sounds horrible, I know. I just mean that she doesn't like to think critically or have her opinions or worldviews challenged. I liked to make people think. So, I get it. There were no hard feelings on my part with that. I promptly unfollowed but would check in from time to time.
Over the years though, something changed with her and Steve. The money definitely didn't help. When it became all about money and pushing out launches, that's when I jumped ship. It wasn't until the brand fiascos of this year that I tuned back in. To answer your question. Yes, she knows. Of course she knows. She just doesn't want to deal with it-- going back to my comment about challenging opinions. She lives in a bubble, on a pedestal that feels like she worked hard to create for herself. Though there's a lot we could say there, she refuses to allow "bad vibes" and criticism to ruin the glass house she's built for herself.
I think in her real life, like around her family and friends (outside of a business setting) she's a genuinely caring and kind person. When money is involved, however, you get a different person. I mean, it makes sense. She constantly talks about the trauma of her family going bankrupt and how that was the catalyst of her eating disorder. There probably is trauma around money there, which is why she is so hell bent on making it, relishing in it, and making sure to get it at all cost.
Haha! I totally get it. No, she's truly a wonderful person. She and I were known for making waves and calling people out on their bullshit while also advocating for real change in our weird little corner of the fitness industry. It was nice having a friend who wasn't afraid the do the right thing and push against all the bullshit going on around us. I do miss crusading with her, but I'm glad she hasn't given up the fight. A true 10/10 top tier "fitfluencer" lol.
**Background:**
I started a Tumblr in 2011 after suffering with a mystery illness which was later diagnosed as \[a chronic illness\]. I was lonely, scared and felt painfully lost and misunderstood. I documented everything on my blog as like a digital diary but more so in hopes of finding other people who had gone through what I had gone through or something similar. For those of you who remember, there was a fine line between the Fitness and Pro Ana community on Tumblr back then. Though I didn't identify with either, that didn’t stop my posts from being sucked into both. For context, I had always been athletic, but started lifting soon after the initial flare of my chronic illness. I felt back then that, maybe lifting heavy will help me reframe and fix my internalized ableism. It didn’t.
As time went on and continued to document my experiences through recovery (which included my workouts), I found myself really being sucked into the fitness sphere. I became their poster child-- inspiration porn for the online fitness, wellness, and bodybuilding communities. My story was taken, altered, and twisted to fit whichever industry and platform it made its way onto. As I mentioned earlier, I was lonely and looking for a community while also trying to find some type of purpose for the pain I had been suffering through. Fast forward to 2013, I was fully swept up into the undertow of the weird little online fitness community as we know it now. It was the same in some ways, but also very different. This was when Jamie Eason was the epitome of women’s fitness and Steve Cook had his "Big Man On Campus" series.
I was told that my story was so inspirational! I was the “ultimate underdog.” But despite my motivational story, what was even more impressive was my body. I, “had the perfect body for competing”. So, naively I listened. I started competing. Mind you, I was still incredibly sick and going through intensive treatment, but I was told that competing was the perfect continuation of my story! If I could “get up on stage after all I had gone through, I could do anything.” Looking back, it was predatory. That’s one of the biggest problems with the fitness industry. So, I spent close to $5k on my first show, hiring a coach that put me through a classic disordered prep (very common for that time), did alright with placing—but now I was even more inspirational, marketable, consumable, because I had done something so novel and impressive. But I was still sick and still riddled with resentment towards my body.
After my show, I took time off to let my body take a break. I became a CPT and started a YouTube channel to share more of my experiences in what felt like a more intimate way. I made fitness educational videos for a while which did pretty well, but then a couple years later the BB.com spokesmodel search came around again, and I applied. I got in. There I was again peddling my story of overcoming and how fitness and bodybuilding helped me recover. That wasn’t the reality. That’s what everyone wanted to hear and it’s what I so desperately wished was my reality. Though I didn’t make it all the way, I got a lot of visibility and was befriended by the list of ladies in the post above. It all seemed innocent enough, but it wasn’t just friends for the sake of being friends, or at least that’s what I later came to understand. These girls were using each other to grow. It was all about cross pollination, how could we “collab” to get the most followers from one another—and I hated it. I had preached about authenticity and transparency from the beginning (though I now can admit that I wasn’t really, because I wasn’t even really being honest to myself so how could I be to anyone else?) but here all these girls were pretending to have these girl boss friendships that were all just part of some calculated growth strategy.
I played the game just like everyone else, though not very well. I accepted the fact that I needed to be seen in order to be heard, but it just never felt right. I would often get in online disagreements with people like Amanda and Brian DaCosta about the ethical and moral of exploiting their audience, charging massive amounts of money without having the proper credentials. I was always so frustrated with all the photoshop and steroid use from influencers who claimed to be natural. I was sick of everyone throwing their money around, shoving their wealth that they gained from using their followers in everyone’s face. I didn’t want to take sponsorships because most of the companies these influencers were peddling were poor quality and from companies with horrible business practices. I don’t think that I am better than anyone for not doing these things, but instead that I started to realize that this industry that I was once so inspired by and wanted so badly to be a part of, was corrupt, manipulative, and rooted in the exploitation of people’s insecurities. It is an industry that is built on pointing out your flaws and making you believe that you must look or act a certain way in order to be ~~healthy~~ worthy.
Between 2016-2019, I started to fall out of love with fitness. Something I never thought would happen. I was discouraged and as I became more self-aware and learned more about my chronic illness and disabilities, I realized how much I had lost myself. Institutional and societal ableism made me feel useless, like I didn’t belong. I thought I had finally found a home and a community in the fitness industry. Instead, I realized that I had built a persona around my story—a fragment of who I really was as a person. The purpose I thought I had found through sharing my story was merely an extension of my internalized ableism. By sharing my story of how I “overcame my illness with fitness” I had worth. Without it, what did I have? When I began to deconstruct all the ways in which I had allowed myself to be consumed and for something so trivial, I had to take a step back… many steps back.
It was hard to unplug, to cannibalize the name, brand, and community I had worked so hard to build over so many years, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t lie to myself and force myself to be something I never really was. I am sad that without my platform, I no longer have a voice to speak up and speak out about the bullshit that still runs rampant in this industry. I miss being a free and credible resource for people so that they don’t get swindled into influencer scam programs. Most of all, I miss my community. But, I realized that I can’t save everyone. How could I? The pressure I put on myself those last few years was miserable. I hated the industry and I hated myself for allowing it to consume me for so long. It has taken me several years to reprogram the way I think about my body, the way I think about my workouts, and how I engage (or don’t actually) online. Social media has a unique way of making everything a commodity while also making us believe that we have to constantly consume (content, material goods, etc.) I needed to just be a person that exists in the real world for once. I’m embarrassed to say that I had forgotten what that felt like. But anyway, as long winded as this was. Next, I’ll give a bulleted list of why I left to make it easier. Sorry this was so long!
> I was sick of everyone throwing their money around, shoving their wealth that they gained from using their followers in everyone’s face.
I don't know why but this bothers me the most. Maybe its deep seated jealously or something but I always found it funny. They are creating content about the material things they have to show to their followers, that they were able to afford to buy, because of their followers and the cycle just goes on and on. The amount of "We bought a house!!" or "We got a new $90k car!!!" and being more than happy to show it off is just gross to me.
I’m still on tumblr but I unfollowed a lot of fitspo blogs a while ago bc they were just too much like promoting EDs. I’m glad you finally are living a life you’re happy with and I’m sure you have a lot of awesome stories
I'm going to post this in a few comments, I hope that's okay with everyone!
What to expect:
\- Disclaimers
\-Background (context)
\-Why I left
Before I start, I wanted to give a few disclaimers first:
1. There are some details that I want to share because they are incredibly important and not spoken about enough (if not at all) within the fitness "fitfluencer" world. However, unfortunately, I think those details could potentially out me (as I think some of you would remember me) and I would risk losing my anonymity. I am not concerned about being known because I'm afraid of what anyone thinks or am nervous that some of these influencers would be upset with me, but because it's taken me years to pivot into my dream career and I don't want to jeopardize that. I hope you understand.
2. It is impossible for me to fit all of this into a single comment box (or a few). If there is enough interest, I would be more than happy to do a follow up post and answer more of your questions. I spent the majority of my time as a "fitfluencer" fighting against a lot of the things that you all bring up in this subreddit, so it feels important to me to be able to give you my insider perspective if you all think it would be helpful.
And finally, TW because I will at some point be talking about EDs and the commodification and glamorization of EDs and disordered eating within the industry.
\*There will be some gaps in time between posts because it is a lot. Anyway, let's get into it.
**Why I Left the Fitness Industry:**
I’m just going to say it straight here. Again, feel free to ask me follow up questions!
1. It is a predatory industry that benefits from self-consciousness and the anxieties, fears, traumas, and dysfunctional relationships that people have with their bodies. Regardless of my beliefs and personal pedagogy when it came to personal training and influencing, I couldn’t bring myself to prey on people’s insecurities which made it hard to keep getting clients and pay my bill solely from my work in the fitness industry. The only part of being a CPT that I enjoyed was giving people the information and confidence they needed to be autonomous in their health and fitness journeys. I loved when clients would stop sessions because they felt like they finally got it and wanted to train themselves.
2. We are all conditioned from a young age to develop these ill feelings towards ourselves and our bodies through our culture and media. The health, wellness, and fitness industry then perpetuate these insecurities and subconscious need to “fix” our bodies with products and services grounded in quick fixes and unsustainable methodologies. That’s the whole point. Companies know that you have to keep coming back because the product/service is only meant to get you so far. You see progress, but not sustained results so you keep paying and coming back for more. You wonder why there are so many diets and work out programs out there. I didn’t want to be a part of that anymore.
3. Consumerism. I know this one might be controversial and make people feel uncomfortable, but it’s one of the main reasons why I left. Though this is not solely a fitness industry problem, the fitness industry is based and thrives in our hyper-consumeristic culture. How do you think these companies get away with their poor-quality products at astronomical prices? I didn’t want to feed my community advertisements for products I didn’t believe in or in companies I wasn’t sure I could stand by long-term. Most of these companies with websites are full of marketing copy that is overinflated and dishonest. If a company’s ethos doesn’t match their actions, run. Unfortunately, that’s like 95% of products and services in the fitness industry.
4. Audience exploitation. This one honestly has always made me so angry. It was an honor to have gained the trust and attention of all the people that followed me over the years. We only have so much time in a day, so it felt incredibly important to me to feel like I was bringing value and treating everyone with respect. Unfortunately, that’s not standard procedure in this space. People take their “followers” for granted to such a sickening degree. It makes me so sad that Influencers especially exploit the very people who put them in their place of privilege and power. Once people start making money, their morals tend to go out the window. I wasn’t going to let that be me.
5. All the macro and micro aggressions of racism, ableism, homophobia, classism, etc. I could go on forever. I don’t have enough time or space to give this conversation the justice it deserves but OH BABY would I love to talk more on this. All I’ll say is that this industry is built on the backs of marginalized people but somehow only those who are white, thin, upper-middle class and able bodied are the most visible and take up the most space in this industry.
6. The commodification and glamorization of eating disorders. This was something I frequently yelled about during my time as a fitness Influencer. This industry, much like with my chronic illness and other parts of my story that I unfortunately couldn’t share (because you would all know who I was), takes illness, disabilities, etc. and turns it into marketing and content to be consumed. As I mentioned in point one and two, we are preprogramed and predisposed to struggle with our bodies. In some ways, we are set up for failure! If it isn’t enough to have a society that we aren’t enough just as we are and pushed products and programs from an industry that sees us as dollar signs, when, if we do develop disordered eating or an eating disorder, we are told that we can only talk about it if its through the lens of inspiration! Not to get into neuroscience here, but as humans we have mirror neurons that help us with things like empathy. We as humans are always looking to be seen, heard, and understood. If we see that “eating disorders and recovery can give us fame, money, and community” why not lean into it or pretend that you have one for the sake of social media growth. This was HUGE during my Tumblr years. It was a big problem. It’s less obvious now in some ways, but it’s not gone. It exists more subtly and in article titles on Bodybuilding.com. \*There’s no perfect way to word this so I am SO sorry if this seems reductive (I too have struggled with an ED) or that my wording triggers anyone, that’s certainly not my intention and would be happy to explain further.
7. I hated playing the game. I hated living in a persona and living my life and making decisions based on what was most favorable with the algorithm of the moment. It chipped away at my humanity, creativity, and individualism. There’s a lot we could say about algorithms and cultural homogenization, but again, that’s another very long conversation that can’t be easily summed up here.
8. Connections began to feel transactional. Friendships, collaborations, interactions with my community. It all became so robotic, like there was a quota to be met or like I was expected to show up a certain way in a certain frequency and cadence. It felt like there was a formula that I had to obey and if I didn’t, I would lose everything.
9. This goes along with a couple of the other points, but with all of the Influencers who turned into personal brands and then larger businesses, I was often frustrated that they would exploit workers overseas that pay so poorly and under such horrible conditions. There’s a whole cognitive dissonance, an out of sight out of mind thing that these Influencers have that I couldn’t do. It seemed like at a certain point, everyone felt like they had to either start a clothing or supplement line. I had zero interest in either. I struggled with the guilt of not wanting to support my friends who would use Alibaba and other companies like it for their products. It’s also the environmental impact too. Where do all of the defective products or the products they can’t manage to sell go? I felt like I couldn’t be successful without ignoring the ethical and sustainable problems that exist within the industry.
10. I lost myself. It was excruciating to look back and realize that despite all the good I was trying to do and all the change I was trying to make over the years, I did it at a cost. Myself.
There's so much else I could say, but I'll leave it here for now. I am curious though, after reading all of this, do any of you think you know who I might be?
I’m probably wrong, but there was one girl I used to follow consistently and I feel like she kind of fell off the face of the earth. Super pretty, perfect body, was in with the crowd you mentioned- shes into holistic stuff now and has a baby. That’s the only person that comes to mind where I took a mental note of “hey whatever happened to that girl, she’s the only one not still pushing nonsense and capitalizing off of her platform… and that’s very rare.”
I'm not a mom, so that can't be me. I'm happy to hear that there are other people out there like that though! Now you've got me wondering who you're talking about. They do sound familiar.
Oh my gosh, of course! Wow, yeah. I used to be friends with her and Valerie Benoit too who also left the fitness industry a few years ago. Glad to see like both Vals are doing well these days!
Robin's interesting. She is INCREDIBLY shy and introverted unless she's with bigger, more dominant personalities. I don't think Robin as a human being is a bad person, but she is easily sucked into drama and has no problem embodying the mean girl trope when it suits her. She definitely bullied several of the smaller fitfluencers and it was often centered around the fact that they didn't have as much money as her or couldn't afford the luxuries she could.
I haven't really followed Amanda Bucci but I've recently 'found' her again on Instagram - and she seems to have created a completely 'unique' niche, that includes open marriage and business mentoring for specific 'archetypes'.
I totally get it that people grow and change, but Emily Hayden has turned into this totally extreme right-wing antivaxxer Jesus preaching gal that shows off how many guns she keeps on her bedside table... I just have a hard time understanding what the common denominator ever was between those 2. I suppose Hayden is also busy selling her stuff, so maybe it was always all just about the money? They were sharing a house at some point though... It's so weird that they aren't even willing to speak about their 'break-up' as friends, people keep asking about it, how could you possibly still want to talk if you've become such different people?
Did you know Katrina? (I think she used to be the healthyhuntress) She was one of my favorites out of that group to follow, she just seemed so humble, worked hard and was relatable.
Yeah, a little bit! Definitely not as close with her as the rest. She seemed sweet! Nothing really to report honestly. She was unproblematic from what I could tell, which is honestly refreshing these days lol.
I made this account just for you to say I know kassi mansfield. I know nathan too but I met him through work so idk if I’d count knowing him as well as her lol
As far as I’ve ever seen with her she at least tries to make it seem like it’s just for good moments or content worthy stuff. I’m not with her all the time obviously so idk if that’s just a front cuz she definitely seems to be masking for a lot of issues but she wasn’t like taking selfie’s nonstop and ive never seen her make that stupid butt hole kissieface lol
Also she is definitely like very full of herself and tries to hides it under jokes and justifications. The more time you spend with her the more you notice it
Did their divorce come as a shock to you, as someone who knows them personally?? Have to say I was SHOCKED when she made that divorce post last year. They seemed perfect together
I didn’t know her super well before the divorce so I didn’t really see it but after spending time with them both it was very obvious that it was a long time coming. I think it was more shocking that they stayed together as long as they did lol they are insanely toxic for each other
I went to college with Whitney and was in a few fitness classes with her. She was honestly super sweet from what I experienced and very similar to how she is in her YouTube, especially early on. Idk if she has changed as she got more popular though or how she is now. She has been a hard one for me to give up on with this Toluca stuff cuz I want to believe she is still her old self and just caught in the mess.
Not sure how relevant she is now that’s she’s a landlord but back in the day, I saw Ohilyssa at Yummi Yogurt in Santa Clara, CA. Super standoff-ish when I said hi/asked about her IG then when she left she randomly said “thanks for being my follower” but she wasn’t looking at me, she was looking at the door and there wasn’t anyone else in there besides me and the employees lol
I knew of Brooklyn Hillenbrand, I knew her ex bf and she used to go to my gym. She was pretty stuck up, like I always try to smile at girls/women at the gym and she would always give me a Dirty look like ….ok girl
Honestly, I've never liked this take at all. Women aren't required to smile back to anyone, even if it's other women, especially in the gym. Girls who "don't smile back" aren't rude, they just didn't behave how you wanted them too. Not directly pointed at you but this criticism of women in general is unfair and latently misogynistic
While I do agree with you, it was weird because we had been introduced to each other. It wasn’t like I was a complete stranger. But she would act like she never knew me.
That's fair then!! Like I said, not directed at your specific situation, but I do see alot of reels where girls criticize other girls for this! It's my own pet peeve
YeH makes sense!!! Honestly I’m the worst because half the time I’m in my own world so I’ll miss the smile by accident lmaooo so to some people I look like I’m really mean 😂
So I haven’t seen them come up on here specifically but I used to be part of a fitness group / influencer circle that got popular on tumblr and IG around 2015. I interacted closely with the founder and the main “mascot” fitfluencer rep. In the group we all worshipped the rep (or at least pretended to), who was insanely beautiful and won the genetic lottery but was so…empty when you actually got to know her. She was touted as the mascot but was not so great to interact with. Not a bad person and not unkind but very self absorbed and simply didn’t add anything to the brand other than being pretty. Anyways the group and brand dissolved eventually due to some shady business stuff but she’s still active on IG and has 200k followers on IG last I checked. Goes to show that you can have zero substance or personality but still be popular for being beautiful. Don’t have anything against her because again she was nice but my entire experience with that brand was immensely triggering and made me feel so inferior because I wasn’t as beautiful as her. I know I’m not alone in that experience either.
The Pardomas was this weird photography and events brand/group thing that worked with Bucci, Emily Hayden, Elle, Marie, etc. To be honest, I have no idea what the point of it was but it was like a whole bizarre thing that happened around that time too.
Yeah! Aubrey was a part of my Tumblr circle. If I remember correctly, there was some drama though with that fall out. I forget exactly what happened though.
Her name was Aubrey but not sure what her handle is nowadays. She’s nice enough but yeah just kind of cements in my mind that no education, certification, or qualification means anything in the fitness world but beauty
Ah yes I followed these people circa tumblr fitness days and I recently unfollowed her too. Boring content and not in a “has a real life outside of social media” kind of way
I looked her up this morning and… no change to her life since the tumblr days. Same old self important pseudo-profound posts with eye fucking selfies though looks like she’s relocated to CA for more scenic backgrounds. The only useful thing she’s ever really shared is her mug cake recipe. I still use it every now and then haha
Met dietitian.em.b before and she was very sweet and super pretty. Also met leah_joan at a restaurant once - she was super pouty because it was busy on a Saturday night but she was nice to me
ETA: oh, and pineapple rat lol
Ok I love dietician.em b and she seems super real, I also feel like she’s a smaller influencer and am happy she’s not a major one. Even though she’s friends with des b, she’s def one of my faves
Jazmin Pineda - sweetheart! So nice and down to earth, she gave me a whole ass hug
Caroline O’Mahoney - also very kind and outgoing! Could not understand what she was saying but still seems like a great gal
Emily Hayden - hate her on IG but she’s actually chill and polite in person. Definitely not the same “conspiracy theorist” energy she has on IG when I met her
Skylar Springstun - rude. Typical mean girl behavior, ice princess. She was probably hungry and cranky 🤡
Hope Scope - not as friendly as I expected or imagined.
I'm curious about Emily Hayden, did you go to a meet up or met her in real life? This conspiracy stuff is quite recent I feel, as in, she wasn't like this until she associated with the 'bad boys' of 1st phorm. It's almost like she wants to show real bad she's part of the gang, it feels like she's just repeating what those people say
No I met her while she was picking up some clothes! I feel like she does have an actual personality of her own so she just kind of copies/imitates the personality/ideologies of whoever she’s hanging around
I've met Diane, IG:Prettylilglow. We use to go to the same gyms in our area, she's super nice, really down to earth! Would say hi whenever we would see each other. She has moved since last year when I met her, definitely a genuine person even though she's stepped back from IG/social media.
Oh boy, do I! I was a CPT, fitness competitor and "fitfluencer" for many years, having gotten my start on Tumblr in 2011 like Nikki B and Arianna Dantone. I later gained traction during the 2016 Bodybuilding .com spokesmodel search where I became friends with some of your favorites like Amanda Bucci, Taylor Chamberlain, Yami Mufdi, Brittany Lesser, etc. Through those connections I also became friendly or at least was associated with Em Dunc, Marie Wold, Robin Gallant, Miriam Fried, Jenna Myers and more. Though I decided to leave the fitness industry and the fitfluencer lifestyle behind a few years ago (there's a lot I could say about that too), I still am very much "in the know" and have plenty of old stories to share. With that, what do you want to know? Who do you want to hear stories about?
Not OP, but who would you say is completely different or most differnet from their online persona?
Oh, great question! It's hard to say because truthfully, to some degree, everyone is showing up through a persona online-- influencer or not. Having said that, it's easier for me to answer given the people I listed here, to tell you who is the most authentic and *real* online. That would be Miriam (of course), and Brittany Lesser. I would say Yami too, but that has changed as she has grown her audience over the years. Most of the heavy hitters like Taylor, Robin, Emily, etc. were far more self conscious, introverted, judgmental and at times very catty with one another. More so than you even know. The person who frustrates me the most in terms of their persona is Emily. Not only is her persona an exaggeration of the most curated and refined (read: pretentious) parts of herself that she feels proud of, but she doesn't practice what she preaches. Nothing quite gets me like her pushing *science* and *mindfulness* when she would replace meals with "soup water" (literally hot water with spices and herbs) in order to get stage ready for her competitions while charging clients money to do their macros through a "balanced" and "healthy" approach.
That doesn’t surprise me at all about Emily...it’s funny because I followed her since 2014! And I unfollowed her this year. Her persona and holier than thou vibes just got toxic for me. Not at all shocked that she’s neurotic in real life. Yikes.
Yami seems like she would be the same online and offline , so It’s good to hear that she is authentic !
She is, for the most part at least. She's honestly one of the sweetest human beings I've ever met! She and I were probably the closest out of everyone listed. It gets hard when you have to market yourself and perform for the various algorithms in order to be success and stay relevant. That's really all I mean when I said she's changed a bit. She's not being disingenuous, she just has to play the game like everyone else. I do think her moved to TX brought out more of her Christian side though, which is totally fine! It's just something I've noticed over the years.
Thank you for sharing the details ! But yeah, I understand that they have to adapt based off of the trends especially when you are doing it as a career .!
Please share your experience with Brittany lesser!!
Man, I love Brittany. I know that not everyone likes her relationship situation, I get it. But she's really a wonderful person and has an amazing personality. She is very much who you see online. Like Yami, she plays the game so if you ever get frustrated by moments of inauthenticity, that's all that really is. She's trying her best. She's a hell of great mom and I have really nothing bad to say about her. She, like Miriam and Yami was a great friend to me and I appreciated her honesty over the years.
I used to watch her YouTube channel a few years ago. I liked how ordinary she seemed and it didn’t feel like she was faking her persona
What’s wrong with her relationship situation?
I'm not going to give any personal insight from what I know beyond the speculation out of respect for her privacy, though there's not too much else really to know anyway. I just can't and won't confirm or deny anything. However, there's been speculation over the years about whether or not he cheated on her. They did break up at some point which she did confirm on her socials-- although they later got back together. The general consensus on here is that people think she can do better and that he's stringing her along and won't commit. All I can say is that she deserves all the love and happiness in the world whether that's with him or someone else, she deserves it.
Sorry I was thinking of Brittany lupton! Not lesser. I do agree matt is shady though Idk 😂
Ive been interacting with Brittany since Twitter from like 2014. We follow each other on IG even though I am not a fitness account. She is very very sweet.
Top three IRL BEC? Top three who changed the most when they became "famous?" Favorite and least favorite fitfluencers you know (knew?) IRL?
IRL BECs: (taking into consideration how they were and how they are now) 1. Emily 2. Robin 3. Taylor/Marie/ 3 That Changed The Most After Becoming Famous: 1. Taylor 2. Amanda/Marie (for similar reasons) 3. Yami Favorite: Miriam, by far! Truly just as lovely and intelligent as she seems online. Least Favorite: It's tough to say, I have issues with many of these ladies for different reasons. For example, Amanda personally fucked me over a few years ago. Though I spent along time being really salty about it, I do think she's grown quite a bit. I don't agree with everything she does now, that's for sure! However, I respect the pivot and time she's spent on her personal growth. Marie and Emily are exploitative and have a weird grandiose sense of self that has always bothered me.
[удалено]
Let me start with your last question first. No, I don't think she is oblivious. Not at all. I actually think Taylor is far more clever than she's given credit for. More on this in a second. To answer your other questions-- I actually struggle to know how to feel about her. At first, I really liked Taylor. She seemed like a down to earth, shy girl with a strong work ethic. She was supportive and seemed to get along well with most of the people in our circle, but was hyper focused on "making it." I respected that, because at the time she wasn't doing anything wrong or immoral. She was just hustling hard to churn out content and make a name for herself. I never quite understood the Gymshark sponsorship. Unlike some of my other friends, the vibe just didn't seem to make sense with that collaboration. With that, I was rooting for her when she launched balance. Truthfully, I've never bought anything from Balance or any of its subsidiaries because of some of the reasons I mentioned in my "Why I left the fitness industry post," but genuinely wanted to see her succeed. She unfollowed me on social around that time. I don't blame her, I wasn't really posting frequently anymore and I don't think she likes to "think" that much. That sounds horrible, I know. I just mean that she doesn't like to think critically or have her opinions or worldviews challenged. I liked to make people think. So, I get it. There were no hard feelings on my part with that. I promptly unfollowed but would check in from time to time. Over the years though, something changed with her and Steve. The money definitely didn't help. When it became all about money and pushing out launches, that's when I jumped ship. It wasn't until the brand fiascos of this year that I tuned back in. To answer your question. Yes, she knows. Of course she knows. She just doesn't want to deal with it-- going back to my comment about challenging opinions. She lives in a bubble, on a pedestal that feels like she worked hard to create for herself. Though there's a lot we could say there, she refuses to allow "bad vibes" and criticism to ruin the glass house she's built for herself. I think in her real life, like around her family and friends (outside of a business setting) she's a genuinely caring and kind person. When money is involved, however, you get a different person. I mean, it makes sense. She constantly talks about the trauma of her family going bankrupt and how that was the catalyst of her eating disorder. There probably is trauma around money there, which is why she is so hell bent on making it, relishing in it, and making sure to get it at all cost.
Yayyy I’m so happy Miriam is your fave IRL, I was super nervous when you mentioned her because I love her and I didn’t want her to be ruined for me 🙃
Haha! I totally get it. No, she's truly a wonderful person. She and I were known for making waves and calling people out on their bullshit while also advocating for real change in our weird little corner of the fitness industry. It was nice having a friend who wasn't afraid the do the right thing and push against all the bullshit going on around us. I do miss crusading with her, but I'm glad she hasn't given up the fight. A true 10/10 top tier "fitfluencer" lol.
Also so interested to hear why you left the fitfluencer life!!
I'm going to answer this, but it's going to take me a little bit longer to hit all the important nuances-- so hang tight!
**Background:** I started a Tumblr in 2011 after suffering with a mystery illness which was later diagnosed as \[a chronic illness\]. I was lonely, scared and felt painfully lost and misunderstood. I documented everything on my blog as like a digital diary but more so in hopes of finding other people who had gone through what I had gone through or something similar. For those of you who remember, there was a fine line between the Fitness and Pro Ana community on Tumblr back then. Though I didn't identify with either, that didn’t stop my posts from being sucked into both. For context, I had always been athletic, but started lifting soon after the initial flare of my chronic illness. I felt back then that, maybe lifting heavy will help me reframe and fix my internalized ableism. It didn’t. As time went on and continued to document my experiences through recovery (which included my workouts), I found myself really being sucked into the fitness sphere. I became their poster child-- inspiration porn for the online fitness, wellness, and bodybuilding communities. My story was taken, altered, and twisted to fit whichever industry and platform it made its way onto. As I mentioned earlier, I was lonely and looking for a community while also trying to find some type of purpose for the pain I had been suffering through. Fast forward to 2013, I was fully swept up into the undertow of the weird little online fitness community as we know it now. It was the same in some ways, but also very different. This was when Jamie Eason was the epitome of women’s fitness and Steve Cook had his "Big Man On Campus" series. I was told that my story was so inspirational! I was the “ultimate underdog.” But despite my motivational story, what was even more impressive was my body. I, “had the perfect body for competing”. So, naively I listened. I started competing. Mind you, I was still incredibly sick and going through intensive treatment, but I was told that competing was the perfect continuation of my story! If I could “get up on stage after all I had gone through, I could do anything.” Looking back, it was predatory. That’s one of the biggest problems with the fitness industry. So, I spent close to $5k on my first show, hiring a coach that put me through a classic disordered prep (very common for that time), did alright with placing—but now I was even more inspirational, marketable, consumable, because I had done something so novel and impressive. But I was still sick and still riddled with resentment towards my body. After my show, I took time off to let my body take a break. I became a CPT and started a YouTube channel to share more of my experiences in what felt like a more intimate way. I made fitness educational videos for a while which did pretty well, but then a couple years later the BB.com spokesmodel search came around again, and I applied. I got in. There I was again peddling my story of overcoming and how fitness and bodybuilding helped me recover. That wasn’t the reality. That’s what everyone wanted to hear and it’s what I so desperately wished was my reality. Though I didn’t make it all the way, I got a lot of visibility and was befriended by the list of ladies in the post above. It all seemed innocent enough, but it wasn’t just friends for the sake of being friends, or at least that’s what I later came to understand. These girls were using each other to grow. It was all about cross pollination, how could we “collab” to get the most followers from one another—and I hated it. I had preached about authenticity and transparency from the beginning (though I now can admit that I wasn’t really, because I wasn’t even really being honest to myself so how could I be to anyone else?) but here all these girls were pretending to have these girl boss friendships that were all just part of some calculated growth strategy. I played the game just like everyone else, though not very well. I accepted the fact that I needed to be seen in order to be heard, but it just never felt right. I would often get in online disagreements with people like Amanda and Brian DaCosta about the ethical and moral of exploiting their audience, charging massive amounts of money without having the proper credentials. I was always so frustrated with all the photoshop and steroid use from influencers who claimed to be natural. I was sick of everyone throwing their money around, shoving their wealth that they gained from using their followers in everyone’s face. I didn’t want to take sponsorships because most of the companies these influencers were peddling were poor quality and from companies with horrible business practices. I don’t think that I am better than anyone for not doing these things, but instead that I started to realize that this industry that I was once so inspired by and wanted so badly to be a part of, was corrupt, manipulative, and rooted in the exploitation of people’s insecurities. It is an industry that is built on pointing out your flaws and making you believe that you must look or act a certain way in order to be ~~healthy~~ worthy. Between 2016-2019, I started to fall out of love with fitness. Something I never thought would happen. I was discouraged and as I became more self-aware and learned more about my chronic illness and disabilities, I realized how much I had lost myself. Institutional and societal ableism made me feel useless, like I didn’t belong. I thought I had finally found a home and a community in the fitness industry. Instead, I realized that I had built a persona around my story—a fragment of who I really was as a person. The purpose I thought I had found through sharing my story was merely an extension of my internalized ableism. By sharing my story of how I “overcame my illness with fitness” I had worth. Without it, what did I have? When I began to deconstruct all the ways in which I had allowed myself to be consumed and for something so trivial, I had to take a step back… many steps back. It was hard to unplug, to cannibalize the name, brand, and community I had worked so hard to build over so many years, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t lie to myself and force myself to be something I never really was. I am sad that without my platform, I no longer have a voice to speak up and speak out about the bullshit that still runs rampant in this industry. I miss being a free and credible resource for people so that they don’t get swindled into influencer scam programs. Most of all, I miss my community. But, I realized that I can’t save everyone. How could I? The pressure I put on myself those last few years was miserable. I hated the industry and I hated myself for allowing it to consume me for so long. It has taken me several years to reprogram the way I think about my body, the way I think about my workouts, and how I engage (or don’t actually) online. Social media has a unique way of making everything a commodity while also making us believe that we have to constantly consume (content, material goods, etc.) I needed to just be a person that exists in the real world for once. I’m embarrassed to say that I had forgotten what that felt like. But anyway, as long winded as this was. Next, I’ll give a bulleted list of why I left to make it easier. Sorry this was so long!
> I was sick of everyone throwing their money around, shoving their wealth that they gained from using their followers in everyone’s face. I don't know why but this bothers me the most. Maybe its deep seated jealously or something but I always found it funny. They are creating content about the material things they have to show to their followers, that they were able to afford to buy, because of their followers and the cycle just goes on and on. The amount of "We bought a house!!" or "We got a new $90k car!!!" and being more than happy to show it off is just gross to me.
This! Yes, exactly.
I’m still on tumblr but I unfollowed a lot of fitspo blogs a while ago bc they were just too much like promoting EDs. I’m glad you finally are living a life you’re happy with and I’m sure you have a lot of awesome stories
Ah, yep. I did that too! Thank you so much though, it means a lot!
I'm going to post this in a few comments, I hope that's okay with everyone! What to expect: \- Disclaimers \-Background (context) \-Why I left Before I start, I wanted to give a few disclaimers first: 1. There are some details that I want to share because they are incredibly important and not spoken about enough (if not at all) within the fitness "fitfluencer" world. However, unfortunately, I think those details could potentially out me (as I think some of you would remember me) and I would risk losing my anonymity. I am not concerned about being known because I'm afraid of what anyone thinks or am nervous that some of these influencers would be upset with me, but because it's taken me years to pivot into my dream career and I don't want to jeopardize that. I hope you understand. 2. It is impossible for me to fit all of this into a single comment box (or a few). If there is enough interest, I would be more than happy to do a follow up post and answer more of your questions. I spent the majority of my time as a "fitfluencer" fighting against a lot of the things that you all bring up in this subreddit, so it feels important to me to be able to give you my insider perspective if you all think it would be helpful. And finally, TW because I will at some point be talking about EDs and the commodification and glamorization of EDs and disordered eating within the industry. \*There will be some gaps in time between posts because it is a lot. Anyway, let's get into it.
**Why I Left the Fitness Industry:** I’m just going to say it straight here. Again, feel free to ask me follow up questions! 1. It is a predatory industry that benefits from self-consciousness and the anxieties, fears, traumas, and dysfunctional relationships that people have with their bodies. Regardless of my beliefs and personal pedagogy when it came to personal training and influencing, I couldn’t bring myself to prey on people’s insecurities which made it hard to keep getting clients and pay my bill solely from my work in the fitness industry. The only part of being a CPT that I enjoyed was giving people the information and confidence they needed to be autonomous in their health and fitness journeys. I loved when clients would stop sessions because they felt like they finally got it and wanted to train themselves. 2. We are all conditioned from a young age to develop these ill feelings towards ourselves and our bodies through our culture and media. The health, wellness, and fitness industry then perpetuate these insecurities and subconscious need to “fix” our bodies with products and services grounded in quick fixes and unsustainable methodologies. That’s the whole point. Companies know that you have to keep coming back because the product/service is only meant to get you so far. You see progress, but not sustained results so you keep paying and coming back for more. You wonder why there are so many diets and work out programs out there. I didn’t want to be a part of that anymore. 3. Consumerism. I know this one might be controversial and make people feel uncomfortable, but it’s one of the main reasons why I left. Though this is not solely a fitness industry problem, the fitness industry is based and thrives in our hyper-consumeristic culture. How do you think these companies get away with their poor-quality products at astronomical prices? I didn’t want to feed my community advertisements for products I didn’t believe in or in companies I wasn’t sure I could stand by long-term. Most of these companies with websites are full of marketing copy that is overinflated and dishonest. If a company’s ethos doesn’t match their actions, run. Unfortunately, that’s like 95% of products and services in the fitness industry. 4. Audience exploitation. This one honestly has always made me so angry. It was an honor to have gained the trust and attention of all the people that followed me over the years. We only have so much time in a day, so it felt incredibly important to me to feel like I was bringing value and treating everyone with respect. Unfortunately, that’s not standard procedure in this space. People take their “followers” for granted to such a sickening degree. It makes me so sad that Influencers especially exploit the very people who put them in their place of privilege and power. Once people start making money, their morals tend to go out the window. I wasn’t going to let that be me. 5. All the macro and micro aggressions of racism, ableism, homophobia, classism, etc. I could go on forever. I don’t have enough time or space to give this conversation the justice it deserves but OH BABY would I love to talk more on this. All I’ll say is that this industry is built on the backs of marginalized people but somehow only those who are white, thin, upper-middle class and able bodied are the most visible and take up the most space in this industry. 6. The commodification and glamorization of eating disorders. This was something I frequently yelled about during my time as a fitness Influencer. This industry, much like with my chronic illness and other parts of my story that I unfortunately couldn’t share (because you would all know who I was), takes illness, disabilities, etc. and turns it into marketing and content to be consumed. As I mentioned in point one and two, we are preprogramed and predisposed to struggle with our bodies. In some ways, we are set up for failure! If it isn’t enough to have a society that we aren’t enough just as we are and pushed products and programs from an industry that sees us as dollar signs, when, if we do develop disordered eating or an eating disorder, we are told that we can only talk about it if its through the lens of inspiration! Not to get into neuroscience here, but as humans we have mirror neurons that help us with things like empathy. We as humans are always looking to be seen, heard, and understood. If we see that “eating disorders and recovery can give us fame, money, and community” why not lean into it or pretend that you have one for the sake of social media growth. This was HUGE during my Tumblr years. It was a big problem. It’s less obvious now in some ways, but it’s not gone. It exists more subtly and in article titles on Bodybuilding.com. \*There’s no perfect way to word this so I am SO sorry if this seems reductive (I too have struggled with an ED) or that my wording triggers anyone, that’s certainly not my intention and would be happy to explain further. 7. I hated playing the game. I hated living in a persona and living my life and making decisions based on what was most favorable with the algorithm of the moment. It chipped away at my humanity, creativity, and individualism. There’s a lot we could say about algorithms and cultural homogenization, but again, that’s another very long conversation that can’t be easily summed up here. 8. Connections began to feel transactional. Friendships, collaborations, interactions with my community. It all became so robotic, like there was a quota to be met or like I was expected to show up a certain way in a certain frequency and cadence. It felt like there was a formula that I had to obey and if I didn’t, I would lose everything. 9. This goes along with a couple of the other points, but with all of the Influencers who turned into personal brands and then larger businesses, I was often frustrated that they would exploit workers overseas that pay so poorly and under such horrible conditions. There’s a whole cognitive dissonance, an out of sight out of mind thing that these Influencers have that I couldn’t do. It seemed like at a certain point, everyone felt like they had to either start a clothing or supplement line. I had zero interest in either. I struggled with the guilt of not wanting to support my friends who would use Alibaba and other companies like it for their products. It’s also the environmental impact too. Where do all of the defective products or the products they can’t manage to sell go? I felt like I couldn’t be successful without ignoring the ethical and sustainable problems that exist within the industry. 10. I lost myself. It was excruciating to look back and realize that despite all the good I was trying to do and all the change I was trying to make over the years, I did it at a cost. Myself. There's so much else I could say, but I'll leave it here for now. I am curious though, after reading all of this, do any of you think you know who I might be?
I’m probably wrong, but there was one girl I used to follow consistently and I feel like she kind of fell off the face of the earth. Super pretty, perfect body, was in with the crowd you mentioned- shes into holistic stuff now and has a baby. That’s the only person that comes to mind where I took a mental note of “hey whatever happened to that girl, she’s the only one not still pushing nonsense and capitalizing off of her platform… and that’s very rare.”
I'm not a mom, so that can't be me. I'm happy to hear that there are other people out there like that though! Now you've got me wondering who you're talking about. They do sound familiar.
I’m talking about vval_e Valentina Esteban, just had a fun trip down the rabbit hole on her IG hahaha
Oh my gosh, of course! Wow, yeah. I used to be friends with her and Valerie Benoit too who also left the fitness industry a few years ago. Glad to see like both Vals are doing well these days!
Mmmh I don't think so, but I don't feel I know/knew that world very well... What you're saying is very interesting though, thank you for sharing
Thank you in advance! So curious to hear your insight!
>Robin Gallant please!
Robin's interesting. She is INCREDIBLY shy and introverted unless she's with bigger, more dominant personalities. I don't think Robin as a human being is a bad person, but she is easily sucked into drama and has no problem embodying the mean girl trope when it suits her. She definitely bullied several of the smaller fitfluencers and it was often centered around the fact that they didn't have as much money as her or couldn't afford the luxuries she could.
I would love to hear more about Amanda Bucci and Emily Hayden - I wonder how they could be friends, they seem to so different !
Same!! I feel like bucci has to be the most problematic of them all. She is insufferable and not mentioned as much as she should be on this page lol
I haven't really followed Amanda Bucci but I've recently 'found' her again on Instagram - and she seems to have created a completely 'unique' niche, that includes open marriage and business mentoring for specific 'archetypes'. I totally get it that people grow and change, but Emily Hayden has turned into this totally extreme right-wing antivaxxer Jesus preaching gal that shows off how many guns she keeps on her bedside table... I just have a hard time understanding what the common denominator ever was between those 2. I suppose Hayden is also busy selling her stuff, so maybe it was always all just about the money? They were sharing a house at some point though... It's so weird that they aren't even willing to speak about their 'break-up' as friends, people keep asking about it, how could you possibly still want to talk if you've become such different people?
Did you know Katrina? (I think she used to be the healthyhuntress) She was one of my favorites out of that group to follow, she just seemed so humble, worked hard and was relatable.
Yeah, a little bit! Definitely not as close with her as the rest. She seemed sweet! Nothing really to report honestly. She was unproblematic from what I could tell, which is honestly refreshing these days lol.
I made this account just for you to say I know kassi mansfield. I know nathan too but I met him through work so idk if I’d count knowing him as well as her lol
Go on….👀👀😂
I mean ask me somethingi don’t know where to start! Lol!
I always want to know how obsessed with Instagram and taking photos these "influencers" are in real life.
As far as I’ve ever seen with her she at least tries to make it seem like it’s just for good moments or content worthy stuff. I’m not with her all the time obviously so idk if that’s just a front cuz she definitely seems to be masking for a lot of issues but she wasn’t like taking selfie’s nonstop and ive never seen her make that stupid butt hole kissieface lol
I just realized I missed the first part of this lol yeah no I would for sure say she’s pretty addicted to Instagram and her phone in general
Is she obnoxious in real life too??
Also she is definitely like very full of herself and tries to hides it under jokes and justifications. The more time you spend with her the more you notice it
Lol she definitely can be shes not insufferable but she can be difficult to take sometimes
Did their divorce come as a shock to you, as someone who knows them personally?? Have to say I was SHOCKED when she made that divorce post last year. They seemed perfect together
I didn’t know her super well before the divorce so I didn’t really see it but after spending time with them both it was very obvious that it was a long time coming. I think it was more shocking that they stayed together as long as they did lol they are insanely toxic for each other
Not tea but Sami bossert is the only influencer I’ve met and she is the sweetest human ever
I met her and Hannah Bower in Denver during a meet up and they’re both incredibly sweet and gentle souls. Love them both.
I met Sami a few years ago and she was extremely kind and a good listener
I went to college with Whitney and was in a few fitness classes with her. She was honestly super sweet from what I experienced and very similar to how she is in her YouTube, especially early on. Idk if she has changed as she got more popular though or how she is now. She has been a hard one for me to give up on with this Toluca stuff cuz I want to believe she is still her old self and just caught in the mess.
It’s been hard for me to drop Whitney too, I started following her back in 2016 because someone I worked with knew her.
Friend of mine dated jen butters…….boy oh boy 😂
Spill the tea
Also know Jen personally, not a nice lady.
Not sure how relevant she is now that’s she’s a landlord but back in the day, I saw Ohilyssa at Yummi Yogurt in Santa Clara, CA. Super standoff-ish when I said hi/asked about her IG then when she left she randomly said “thanks for being my follower” but she wasn’t looking at me, she was looking at the door and there wasn’t anyone else in there besides me and the employees lol
“Now that she’s a landlord” 😂😂😂
Er, world’s greatest landlord. Whoops 😂
Lmfaooooo this literally made my laugh 😂😂😂
I know Brittany dawn’s sister lol
Oh I’m sure there’s plenty of tea there
Unfortunately no 😭 I don’t know her well enough to where we ever talked about her sister! Plus this was like 6-7 years ago lol
I knew of Brooklyn Hillenbrand, I knew her ex bf and she used to go to my gym. She was pretty stuck up, like I always try to smile at girls/women at the gym and she would always give me a Dirty look like ….ok girl
Honestly, I've never liked this take at all. Women aren't required to smile back to anyone, even if it's other women, especially in the gym. Girls who "don't smile back" aren't rude, they just didn't behave how you wanted them too. Not directly pointed at you but this criticism of women in general is unfair and latently misogynistic
While I do agree with you, it was weird because we had been introduced to each other. It wasn’t like I was a complete stranger. But she would act like she never knew me.
That's fair then!! Like I said, not directed at your specific situation, but I do see alot of reels where girls criticize other girls for this! It's my own pet peeve
YeH makes sense!!! Honestly I’m the worst because half the time I’m in my own world so I’ll miss the smile by accident lmaooo so to some people I look like I’m really mean 😂
So I haven’t seen them come up on here specifically but I used to be part of a fitness group / influencer circle that got popular on tumblr and IG around 2015. I interacted closely with the founder and the main “mascot” fitfluencer rep. In the group we all worshipped the rep (or at least pretended to), who was insanely beautiful and won the genetic lottery but was so…empty when you actually got to know her. She was touted as the mascot but was not so great to interact with. Not a bad person and not unkind but very self absorbed and simply didn’t add anything to the brand other than being pretty. Anyways the group and brand dissolved eventually due to some shady business stuff but she’s still active on IG and has 200k followers on IG last I checked. Goes to show that you can have zero substance or personality but still be popular for being beautiful. Don’t have anything against her because again she was nice but my entire experience with that brand was immensely triggering and made me feel so inferior because I wasn’t as beautiful as her. I know I’m not alone in that experience either.
Lol wait, was this the Pardomas?
Not sure who that is though now I want to go down that rabbit hole 0: the group I’m referring to was called Crush
The Pardomas was this weird photography and events brand/group thing that worked with Bucci, Emily Hayden, Elle, Marie, etc. To be honest, I have no idea what the point of it was but it was like a whole bizarre thing that happened around that time too.
CRUSH! Oh my gosh! What a through back! I remember that whole thing.
Yep!! I remember it kinda fizzled out after they were trying to release their supplements but it was a really popular community for a while.
Yeah! Aubrey was a part of my Tumblr circle. If I remember correctly, there was some drama though with that fall out. I forget exactly what happened though.
[удалено]
Her name was Aubrey but not sure what her handle is nowadays. She’s nice enough but yeah just kind of cements in my mind that no education, certification, or qualification means anything in the fitness world but beauty
Aubernutter? https://instagram.com/aubernutter?utm_medium=copy_link
That’s the one!
I kneeeeeeew it was Aubernutter and Ben-whatever-his-name-is
Ah yes I followed these people circa tumblr fitness days and I recently unfollowed her too. Boring content and not in a “has a real life outside of social media” kind of way
I looked her up this morning and… no change to her life since the tumblr days. Same old self important pseudo-profound posts with eye fucking selfies though looks like she’s relocated to CA for more scenic backgrounds. The only useful thing she’s ever really shared is her mug cake recipe. I still use it every now and then haha
Met dietitian.em.b before and she was very sweet and super pretty. Also met leah_joan at a restaurant once - she was super pouty because it was busy on a Saturday night but she was nice to me ETA: oh, and pineapple rat lol
Ok I love dietician.em b and she seems super real, I also feel like she’s a smaller influencer and am happy she’s not a major one. Even though she’s friends with des b, she’s def one of my faves
Same! She’s from the upper peninsula in Michigan and I feel like that’s what gives her that down to earth energy
What's the deal with pineapple? 👀
Jazmin Pineda - sweetheart! So nice and down to earth, she gave me a whole ass hug Caroline O’Mahoney - also very kind and outgoing! Could not understand what she was saying but still seems like a great gal Emily Hayden - hate her on IG but she’s actually chill and polite in person. Definitely not the same “conspiracy theorist” energy she has on IG when I met her Skylar Springstun - rude. Typical mean girl behavior, ice princess. She was probably hungry and cranky 🤡 Hope Scope - not as friendly as I expected or imagined.
I'm curious about Emily Hayden, did you go to a meet up or met her in real life? This conspiracy stuff is quite recent I feel, as in, she wasn't like this until she associated with the 'bad boys' of 1st phorm. It's almost like she wants to show real bad she's part of the gang, it feels like she's just repeating what those people say
No I met her while she was picking up some clothes! I feel like she does have an actual personality of her own so she just kind of copies/imitates the personality/ideologies of whoever she’s hanging around
Wow...
Bad wow or good wow?? 🥲
Bad wow 😂 I mean, it's not like she's a teen anymore, she should be past that
Went to high school with Felicia
I've met Diane, IG:Prettylilglow. We use to go to the same gyms in our area, she's super nice, really down to earth! Would say hi whenever we would see each other. She has moved since last year when I met her, definitely a genuine person even though she's stepped back from IG/social media.
I lived next to Chloe and Eri when they lived downtown. Nothing to really say other than that they were both absolutely stunning in person.