We were lucky to catch up with Shaina K recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shaina, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on was a Valentine’s Day self portrait I did this year. It was meaningful for a couple reasons:

1. It affirmed my commitment to love myself, the way I want to be loved. For the first time, I bought myself Valentine’s Day flowers. I got pretty for myself and I decided to create the images I wanted to see more on my social media feeds: a plus size black woman in a luxurious setting. Living in a world as a single black female who is plus sized and doesn’t necessarily fit into quite a few boxes, being the “main character” never seemed truly attainable. In media and film, the people who looked like me are typically the supporting characters if they’re present at all. Simply there to be the comedic relief and or the shoulder to cry on. Now, the few black and plus size leads that I see are still cast in similar roles: funny but fat. At a certain point, I felt like I was choosing to live my life limited to that same role: funny but sat. I wanted to change the idea that while funny and fact is good, being the pretty girl, holding the pretty roses in a main character setting was also good and attainable. So, I made up in my mind to take those quintessential “main character engulfed with roses” photos. While, I do want to recreate the shoot on a larger scale to intensify the luxury I imagine, this experience truly what made me believe I could do the create more of the images I have been dreaming of: a black who isn’t just funny and fat but is living a life of luxury; while being kind to herself and romancing life for herself.

2. It affirmed that I am beautiful even when I don’t feel it. Earlier that month, I’d had surgery on my face to remove a lump near my eyebrow. This was my first surgery ever (which came with its own anxieties and pain) and after it all, honestly my self confidence was immediately shaken. Growing up the “you’re pretty for a big girl” remark was one that I’d heard often from possible suitors, families and even friends. So, it’s no surprise that I had invested a lot of stock in having “a pretty face” even though I was fat. It was the one thing that I’d constantly been told made me “pretty”, or in other words worthy of attention; so, to have that possibly permanently scarred was tough. It was so tough that I went and got a Barbie bang and ponytail for the first time in almost 10 years to distract from the scar. I even postponed my annual Galentines event. An event I took immense pride in curating and hosting. My Galentines event was an opportunity for my friends and I to affirm that we are loved and beautiful outside of any romantic relationship. That we were existing together in this crazy experience called life. An event I almost cancelled because I was no longer feeling like the confident main character I’d consistently pretended to be. How could I be a good host or even a engage in this empowering event, when I myself felt ugly and ashamed? But one day as I was laying in bed, bed rotting as they say, I just felt in my spirit the desire to get pretty and take these rose pictures. So, I did. You know what happened? My scar showed in those pictures and yet, I still felt beautiful. Afterwords, I’d messaged my gals and asked if they would still attend a Galentine’s event post Valentine’s Day and they resoundingly answered yes. They’d been looking forward to it and it ended up being one of the best Galentine’s events I’ve hosted to this date: scarred and all.

3. It affirmed my capacity to create. Up until this point I’d dabbled in creating content but I was saving content inspiration more than I was actually posting or creating. I would really only create content if I was already attending an event so my creativity was limited to someone else’s theme. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy finding the right hair, makeup and outfit for a venue. I just wanted to get rid of the “on someone else’s term” restriction. So, as soon as I made up my mind that day to create these images, I got out of bed, went to buy the flowers, came home and started doing my makeup. In the span of a few hours, the images I’d seen in my mind were sitting in my camera roll. I was so excited to create and felt so much joy, I’d forgotten to blend out my concealer on my forehead (I was trying to avoid the stitches and didn’t blend the edges properly). Regardless, I was smiling with the biggest grin thinking “no worries, I’ll figure out how to edit it”; which I did. Lowkey, I also learned how vital a skill editing was as a digital creator.

Having for the first time created this experience (for myself) of a luxurious, black and fat, woman in her baddie moment with a bundle of red roses has forever changed my life. The joy I felt, even as I took of my make up and tied up my Barbie ponytail, inspired me to commit to doing more creative shots like this one throughout the year; to create more of the images I imagined in my head with a black and fat main lead which I did.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hey all, my name is Shaina but hopefully you know me as Katalenab on social media. I’m a content creator who focuses on creating beauty, fashion and self care content (with a few jokes here and there).

If there’s anything I’d love for you to know it’s that confidence is something we can all have regardless of income, weight, body type, ethnicity or race. Confidence is a mindset; one that you must build and maintain over and over again. The same for self esteem. More importantly, building these traits are vital to living a more fulfilled life. Without them, we will always struggle to truly value and care ourselves; and may even choose to NOT strive for greater.

Even on your best days, there will be someone better off than you so don’t focus on them. Check in with yourself regularly and celebrate the little accomplishments that come your way in life because to live and breathe is a blessing.

Ultimately, that is what I want my creative journey to express: we can all attain greater. Life may not be perfect but through confidence building and celebrating the life we have we can enjoy this crazy ride a little bit more.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The one thing that drives me these days is making the little me inside’s dreams come true. I’ve always love fashion and makeup; whether it was dressing my Barbie dolls or playing makeup games online, I’ve always been drawn to creating in the beauty industry. So, that is what I aspire to do now. Create: whether it be the outfits I dream of or the creative makeup looks I envision, I find so much joy in creating the things I see in my head.

The process isn’t always easy; there’s been plenty times where I just hadn’t mastered the technique or had the right tools to bring to life my vision, but the fact that I pushed through and still created is what I celebrate. No, I don’t always like how it comes out but I always learn how to do it better for next time. At the end of the day as long as the little me continues to see I’m trying and creating I’m happier.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

If there’s anything I can say about finding your community online, it’s that social media is meant to be social. You (mostly) get out of it what you put in. So, engage with your community. Engage with the brands you want to work with and engage with those who connect with your content. Other than that, accept the highs and the lows: they’re both apart of the journey.

Most importantly, create what you love and take breaks as necessary. You’ll be more motivated to create consistently if you are in love what you’re creating and consistency is key. The breaks are necessary because comparison is the thief of joy and it’s almost impossible not to compare when you live on social media. So take days off, create a schedule and check out when needed.

Finally, stop putting your creations in the hands of someone else. Learn to find inspiration, create and edit content by yourself. Only then can you truly control own your content creator journey.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katalenab_/profilecard/?igsh=MXBsNnFjemViODY3YQ==
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@katalena.b?si=ZZeFTcDNMGllLt9Q