It doesn’t bother Phaith Montoya if you think she’s ugly. Still, “ugly” is probably the last word that comes to your mind when you scroll through the 26-year-old content creator’s TikTok feed. Montoya is known for her killer outfits, stunning makeup, and always looking put-together — with a positive and kind attitude to top it all off. But she’s honest about having her off days. In fact, she’s proud of them. “Sometimes, we have pimples. And sometimes, we won’t have the time or money to get our hair done,” Montoya tells Her Campus. “But that version of you still deserves respect, deserves love, and deserves kindness. Even at my ugliest, I’m still like, ‘Don’t play with me. I know who I am, and nothing you can say can take that away from me.’”
For Montoya, self-love has been a journey. In 2020, she went viral for shaving her head (like, just for fun) and documenting the hair growth process on TikTok — something that forced her to redefine what “loving yourself” truly meant. “Prior to [shaving my head], I thought of my hair as my shield, and I feel like for a lot of women, our femininity is tied to our hair,” Montoya shares. “So losing that meant having to face myself with nothing obstructing my vision. And I wish I could say that I fell in love with myself [instantly], but my week three hair looked so different from week six, and so on. I had to fall in love with this different version of myself that I had never seen before.”
Fast forward to 2024, and Montoya’s garnered over 4 million followers across platforms, landed brand partnerships with Yitty, Voight, and others, and secured a spot on the 2024 BodCon panel “Fashion Is For Every Body: Will Size Inclusivity Ever Become The Norm?” Montoya has stayed dedicated to spreading her message of self-love and inclusivity — something that has been important to her for as long as she can remember.
As a child, Montoya was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that made her gain “a significant amount of weight.” On her platform, Montoya has been open about her experience as a plus-sized woman in today’s society. “My weight had nothing to do with my eating habits, or how active I was, or anything you could consider ‘my fault,’ but all of my favorite clothing stores made me feel like it was,” Montoya says. “So now that I have a platform, it’s important for me to use my voice for little girls like me. And it doesn’t even have to be an autoimmune disorder — mental health issues, poverty — there are so many things that can really affect somebody’s weight and, if the least I can do is make someone feel good when they’re going to homecoming, or a party, that’s enough for me.”
And to Montoya, inclusivity goes beyond size. As a brand ambassador for NAMI (the National Alliance of Mental Illness), Montoya has been outspoken about destigmatizing mental health as well as her own journey with high-functioning depression. “I did not know the amount of people that would relate to me on that level,” Montoya says. “I think that [struggling with] mental illness can feel really isolating at times because you just don’t feel like people can understand you.”
Despite the positivity Montoya radiates on her platform, she hasn’t been immune to hate comments and negativity. From comments about her weight to her looks, Montoya has handled the negativity with grace — and a few incredible clapbacks as well. “I always tell people that there was me before I shaved my head, and there was me after I shaved my head,” Montoya says. “I think that this current version of me is the one that is able to withstand all of the [negativity] on social media. And I don’t think I would have been able to before if I didn’t do that.”
Along with her unwavering self-assurance, though, she cites her online community as a massive support system when it comes to dealing with harsh and unnecessary commentary. “Community means everything to me, and I sometimes wonder how I got so blessed with an understanding community [online],” she says. “I think I’ve just built such a great space for women to feel welcome and loved and educated.”
Try as you might, Montoya isn’t the type of person you can break down — and it doesn’t matter what negativity you throw her way. “Your body deserves respect, regardless of anything,” Montoya says. “Somebody’s gonna probably think you’re ugly. And really, who cares?”
Free tickets are available for The 2024 BodCon here.