Candace Molatore on Influencing Body Positivity

People scroll through their social media, seeing a photographic sea of bodies sculpted to perfection thanks to imaging software. These photos of their favorite social media influencers give a false sense of reality and can cause body image distortions. In most cases, the “perfect body/beautiful girl” is the skinny, white model with thousands of followers.

This is not what you’ll see when going to Candace Molatore Instagram profile.

The 26-year-old, known as hey.candace on Instagram, is a plus-size, Black influencer with 31.3K followers. Molatore posts full-figured fashion, lifestyle and, when the pandemic isn’t happening, travel. She started her Instagram for fun in 2013 to share her photography but began seriously creating content in 2017. She describes her struggles of being “fat and Black” and how these led her to social media success.

Candace Molatore’s campaign with Peelz Citrus. Photo Credit: Molatore’s Instagram

She was born in Kentucky but was adopted at two weeks old by a white family and brought to Oregon, where she attended predominantly white schools.

She explained over a Zoom call she wasn’t bullied for her weight in school. Magazines like Tiger Beat and movies with actresses like Lindsay Lohan growing up were her trigger to look down upon herself. In these forms of media, she saw only skinny women and saw that skinny equated to pretty.

Racism is bound to come up, but at a young age, it can be shocking. When Molatore was six years old, she tried to play on the swing set. The other children told her she couldn’t because she was Black. She explained how her parents knew she’d experience racism one day and knew they’d have to discuss this topic with her. But they didn’t imagine it coming up in first grade.

In a podcast episode with “The Pulse,” she describes how high school classmates would show up in the school’s parking lot with Confederate flags hanging from their trucks.

This all led to her turning to the internet–– to find a community.

After she began sharing pictures of herself on Instagram, she realized content-creating was something she wanted to continue.

She explained in an email that it’s hard for most people to look at themselves and say, “I’m beautiful.” Still, the social media’s body positivity movement–– to help people of all shapes and sizes love themselves and feel accepted–– has helped her mental health and empowered her towards her confidence journey.

“Body positivity is an unwavering support and acceptance of your body at all stages,” she wrote.

Molatore wearing a dress from Hackwith Design, which she frequently shops for its inclusive-sizing. Photo Credit: Molatore’s Instagram

But with all these positives she’s found within social media, there are negatives as well. She wrote that the biggest issue is the pay disparity between Black and white creators. When looking at a few past collaborations, she has realized she has been paid far less than she should’ve, which is alarming to her and many others.

In June 2020, among the BLM protest and the uplifting of Black voices, an Instagram account named influencerpaygap emerged and explained the pay disparity between Black and white content creators. It shared 17 creators' experiences at the time (now with over 1,000 posts), from lower pay to only being gifted items while watching their white counterparts get paid for the same work. One anonymous post (most of their posts are DMs that were asked to be anonymous) explained they are a Black, a lifestyle and travel content creator with 8k followers. They were approached by a brand that was asking them for 10 videos for $375. Other white posters had shared they have made upwards of thousands for just one picture.

An article from Business Insider gave an example of 22-year-old Sydnee McRae, a Black TikToker who has over 1 million followers for the viral dance video she choreographed to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Captain Hook.” She was paid $700 to promote rapper Lil Tecca’s song. Addison Rae Easterling, a white TikToker, was paid thousands by Lil Tecca to replicate McRae’s dance to her followers.

In an interview with Soluna Collective, Molatore said she prefers to shop at size-inclusive places, meaning they hold all sizes. Most stores only sell sizes 00-12, when the universal sizes are 00-40. She said that as a plus-sized woman, there aren’t many shopping options.

Anything above a size 12 is usually deemed plus-sized and reserved for plus-size stores, which are already limited. An article written by Byrdie showed that in 2016, the average American woman is between a size 16 and 18, which raises concerns when looking at the fashion industry and seeing the lack of representation within bigger bodies.

When given a chance, she supports these companies as much as she can. She explained over a Zoom call that some of these companies include Soluna Collective, a brand that Molatore works with closely to expand their sizing, Hackwith Design and Andie Swimwear.

In an email, Molatore told the story of how her first sponsorship was an Adore Me Valentine’s Day campaign. They first reached out to her via her DMs and then sent her the product to shoot. She said it wasn’t paid, but she didn’t even care because it was her first campaign.

While there are many trials and tribulations within content creating for plus-size BIPOC creators, Molatore moves forwards and loves her work. Whether it be television, movies, or social media platforms, the media has a long way to go to better represent minorities.