Don’t question self worth because you don’t fit into clothing, says Wisconsin’s Katie Sturino

Katie Sturino, originally from Whitefish Bay, said many people can relate to the “dressing room moment.” Someone is trying on clothes and maybe they’ve gained some weight or brought in a size that no longer fits them. It can be frustrating and sad.

“You are like, ‘What happened? Why don’t I fit in this?’ It’s a massive meltdown that I think so many people have experienced,” she said on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

Sturino is a popular online influencer and body acceptance advocate who has spent her career pushing brands to make bigger sizes. To apply pressure, she will film herself shopping at major retailers, trying on clothes in the largest size available — that are still too small for her — and then post everything online.

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She has more than 800,000 followers on Instagram. Her own beauty product line called Megababe has been featured in The New York Times, “Today” and Oprah’s “Making the Shift.” When her beloved dog Toast died in 2017, his death was even featured in Newsweek, TIME and “Today.”

The University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate is also an author. Her debut novel “Sunny Side Up” narrates the journey of plus-size protagonist Sunny as she powers through life with confidence and humor.

Book cover for Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino, featuring an illustration of a woman diving into water above a city skyline. — *Courtesy of Katie Sturino*

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Rob Ferrett: During the dressing room moment, we feel bad for Sunny. But you are very careful to make Sunny a powerful character.

Katie Sturino: That’s a reason I wanted to write the book in the first place, because I think that so many women go through these traumatic experiences and are unable to recover. I wanted to show a character that went through some really hard stuff emotionally, but she’s resilient. We see that in her dating life. We see that in her business life. I think that it’s important to show a character can be resilient, especially at any size.

A woman with long brown hair sits barefoot on a wooden stool, wearing an orange and navy striped sweater and an orange skirt, in a minimalist studio setting with a light background. — Katie Sturino at a photoshoot. Her debut novel is titled “Sunny Side Up.” *Photo courtesy of Katie Sturino*

RF: As an activist, you’ve said stores should carry bigger sizes. Manufacturers should make bigger sizes. You in your social media work and elsewhere really took the lead on this issue. What motivated you?

KS: What motivated me is that moment in the book we talked about. It’s the moment where you start to question your self worth because you don’t fit into a piece of clothing. And I just think it’s crazy that we allow that kind of thing to affect us, but it’s understandable why it does. It essentially gives you the message that, “You’re not welcome here. You’re not normal. You’re not average. You can’t fit into these things that so many other people can fit into.” So I wanted to ground people back in reality and show them that these are just clothing brands. This is just fabric.

In my own body acceptance work online, I like to show the stores how far away they are from fitting on my body with the largest thing in their store. And I think it’s funny for people to see because it’s often like a shirt that doesn’t fit or a dress that I can’t get over my head.

Two women are walking outside on a city sidewalk, each wearing a shiny pink dress and white ankle boots, holding books in their hands.

Two people pose in similar outfits and stances on city streets in side-by-side photos, both wearing white pants, white tops, pink shirts, black shoes, and sunglasses.

Two women, both wearing brown jackets, tan pants, sunglasses, and brown shoes, walk on city sidewalks while waving and smiling at the camera. — Katie Sturino promotes “SuperSizeTheLook,” where she mimics celebrity outfits. *Photo courtesy of Katie Sturino*

Two women pose outdoors in similar outfits: sleeveless white tops, black leather mini skirts, sheer black tights, and black high heels. Onlookers are visible behind the woman on the left.

RF: You’re from Wisconsin, so is your main character. There’s this moment in the book where her business partner says something like, “We don’t need to sell these large size swimsuits in New York. There aren’t plus-size people in New York. Where you’re from, Wisconsin, everybody there is plus size.” You went from Wisconsin to New York. Is there something different about being plus size, shopping plus size between here and there?

KS: Yes. When I moved to New York 20 to 23 years ago, I was shocked at how small everyone was and the lack of body diversity. I was just taller and bigger than a lot of people. But in Wisconsin, I was on the crew team, like there were people that I could find that were my size.

I was a nanny when I first moved to New York and the grandmother of the child looked at me and said, “I didn’t expect you to be so big.” I got so many comments like that, especially when I first moved here that really made me feel like, “What’s wrong with me? And what is this world?”

RF: You’ve written a nonfiction book of advice and a lot of your work on social media aims at helping people deal with their own body image. What is your message to people to have their weight not occupy so much of that bandwidth?

KS: That’s exactly the message. That’s it. We have one life, and I don’t know if you want to spend it looking in the mirror and hating what you see.

I guarantee if you do the work to accept yourself, (you can) move into a neutral space about your body so it’s not the high-highs and low-lows. You’re just kind of like “I got legs — all right — let’s move on.” Versus if you don’t do that work and then you lose a bunch of weight, those self doubts still live in your brain and just transfer to other parts of your body or your appearance. It’s really not about the size of your pants. It’s about the way that you feel about yourself.