Stella Williams is abody-positiveinfluencer and model known for her honest clothing hauls and reviews.
Recently, Williams experienced some backlash after she shared her not-so-positive review of the Woods by Jordyn clothing line.
I first started posting content …
I actually come from a corporate America background and was on track to work for the United States government.
I was on vacation, and it was my first time in California very new.
I went out and did this photo shoot, and she shot this very short video.
It ended up being a five-minute video.
Coming from a corporate background, [this was] something that was so new.
That was the spark of it.
You’ve amassed all these followers.
Do you ever feel the pressure when you’re posting about how it’s going to be received?
I felt that pressure.
The community aspect trumped anything external I was trying to validate out of my career.
Now, I post [what I want].
People who want to stay, stay.
People who want to leave, leave.
My community’s strong enough to where they take me for me, and I love that.
My overall goal in my content … is to teach people to be themselves.
When I jumped in, I tried.
I let it go.
I let it go in 2016 I was like, “This is not me.
Take me for me.”
[I was] showing people that.
They can go back to the beginning.
That gives so many people [encouragement] …
I feel like I reach to the people who don’t naturally have that.
Facing backlash for her clothing review
You recently had some backlash from one of your reviews.
Usually, it’s a lot of body shaming.
I get a lot of heat for the way I naturally look that’s built me a thick skin.
It’s also allowed me to be comfortable in my voice.
The recent backlash … my community was thankful that I did my job.
[I did] what I do.
I look out for their wallets.
I look out for where they’re spending their money.
People are willing to spend their money, and I take that job incredibly seriously.
At the end of the day, that is my job.
A lot of the backlash came from people not in my community.
That was so encouraging and helpful.
Why has it always been important to you to stay honest [in your reviews]?
This is my truth.
Everything I learned was to lose weight, fix this, nip this, tuck that.
I learned that my honesty would take me furthest.
Now it’s important for me to show that authenticity is it.
What does that topic mean to you?
I’m excited to speak at BodCon because a lot of people …
It’s really whack.
I’m excited to remind people that you might be successful being exactly who you are.
There are multiple ways to love yourself in whatever journey you’re going through in life.
It’s okay to be you.
You don’t need to change it just because society is shifting around you.
You’re already cool within yourself.
It is not easy when you are building confidence or self-esteem.
How did you decide you wanted to use that platform to share other creators?
That was the whole goal of Curve Haul.
Curve Haul was born in January 2022.
At first, it was an online boutique, but not really what I envisioned as a store.
As my job, I’m getting packages in and out all day.
With Curve Haul, I closed down the boutique.
Curve Haul also is a very hot buzzword online …
It sparked not only a spike in views and followers, but then I’m getting emails.
This is January [2022].
It seems to be received so well.
We get emails all the time of, “I would love to be featured on Curve Haul.”
It gives people the space to feel recognized.
I know firsthand what it feels like to not feel like I had a seat at a table.
I worked hard, and I embarrassed myself.
I had to go through so much just to build my own table.
How do you stay out of that mindset and want to bring everyone up?
I have this wonderful little art piece, and I have it in every YouTube video.
It says, “What’s for you won’t pass you by.”
A large part of myself and my faith is giving back, is building up.
It would be so selfish of me to gatekeep information.
If it’s meant for you, it will be yours.
I don’t see emerging content creators as competition.
Because … there’s no containment to the internet.
It blows my mind that you would even see it as competition.
Stop saying you’re “aspiring.”
That would be my number one piece of advice.
Stop saying you’re an aspiringmodelor an aspiring content creator.
That way, you’re killing two birds with one stone.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
