Body positivity has been a major breakthrough over the past few years, with brands hiring more diverse models and celebrities like Lizzo championing plus size people.
However, social media is often unkind to bigger people, with comments filled with vile abuse. This negative environment meant a woman thought she would be "too big" to become an influencer but she was delighted after her video went viral.
The TikTok was so successful Elisabeth Carley-Leonard earned over £2,000 from it and was able to pay off her bills for a month.
Now, she says the experience has spurred her on to create more content for women like her.
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The 31-year-old posted a Get Ready With Me (GRWM) video in which she styled a viral brown bodysuit, sold on TikTok's shop as a dupe for the more expensive Skims version.
Her short 17-second clip had soon been viewed so many times she made £2k through the app's 'creator fund' programme, which pays content creators based on their popular videos.
Elisabeth, a social media and confidence coach from Leicester, said: "I was over the moon when I'd made £100. I thought it was so cool, then I logged in next morning and had jumped up.
"Now I've made nearly £2,000 just in commission in two weeks. It feels insane that I've paid bills off this one video."
While she never expected the video to do so well, it has been a welcome boom to her social media dreams - and her bank account.
"This is nuts it is happening to me - it feels like some sort of weird dream that's happening to be honest," she said. "Actually, really amazing and incredible that somebody with my body type can earn an income from being an influencer.
"It was like waking up one morning and going, 'Wow I'm actually an influencer now'. It's something I always wanted to do but thought I was too big."
Elisabeth, who is a UK size 16, first posted a video to her TikTok account, @elisabeth.carleyleonard, of the bodysuit on March 12, showing her getting ready for a Sunday lunch.
She describes the video as going 'micro-viral' - hitting 36,000 views - and decided to post the video again in a more condensed format after hitting 1,000 followers on March 20.
She chose a popular remix of Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl over the top and kept the video short and sweet. Within three days, the TikTok was viewed by 100,000 people - and now nearly three weeks later the video has been viewed over 728k times.
"I just wanted to post a 'get ready with me' as a creative outlet and to inspire myself to get dressed and leave the house more often," said Elisabeth.
"I was influenced by someone else I saw who had bought the bodysuit, but they were size 10-12 - I'm a 16-18.
"I thought 'it's £10, I'll just get one' and made a 'get ready with me' video wearing jeans and a blazer - it went mini viral and hit 20,000 views.
"I was losing my mind over 20,000 views and said when I got 1,000 followers, I'd post a link to the bodysuit.
"I posted the same video just edited down with a different song - and then over the course of three days it hit 100,000 views.
"I've made nearly £2,000 in just two weeks - it's more than I used to make in a month on payroll.
"I've been trying to work out why it went so viral. I think I hit the sweet spot where the bodysuit was already going viral and everyone wearing it was either bigger or smaller than me.
"I filled the gap for size 16-18 women - people were commenting saying 'I finally feel like I've been represented on this app.
"I used an audio that was trending and kept length of video down. I don't think anyone can explain why things go viral, they just do.
"It's boosted my confidence and empowerment that things like can happen to people like me.
"Every comment is positive and supportive, people have commented saying I've inspired them to start dressing differently or go shopping, it's the most wholesome comments section I've ever read and they're still pouring in.
"It started off as fun little thing for me, now it's spurring me on to carry on posting."
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