Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Khloe Katera. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Khloe, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I think the way my parents raised me reflects in my every day life and career more than I even realize. If it wasn’t for their continuous support, I wouldn’t see myself in the light that I do now. After being bullied year after year when I was younger, it took me until the age of 17 to really see and appreciate my beauty for what it is. I was taller than everyone else, my hair was big and frizzy (much different to my peers), and I was always a bigger girl. In my household, I was told every day that I was beautiful–despite the way I felt at school each day. My parents played a huge role in helping me recognize my self worth, not allowing the opinions of others to pierce through and dim my light. My mom always told me “The way others treat you is a reflection of them, not you.” I now know what that means to the fullest extent. I can’t thank them enough.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Khloe Katera. I am a plus size model and content creator. After spending many years not knowing what I wanted to do with my life or how to channel my creativity, my career actually happened accidentally.

I was told one of two things growing up as a taller girl. Either “You should model!” or “You should play basketball!”. I’ll tell you one thing, I am definitely not athletic in the slightest! I was much too insecure to see myself modeling, and I didn’t see a place in the industry with me being a curvier girl. That being said, I dodged the comments for a long time.

In high school, I was scouted for modeling, but I didn’t move forward because I was still unsure. In college, I had no intentions on modeling at all still–but I loved to take photos. Instagram was all fun and games, and it was much before content creation was a job title. I had many friends that were photographers, models, designers, anything in the creative field, you name it. I wanted to support my friends so I would do street style photoshoots showing off their designs, or just being a play model for the day to help out a photographer friend. I slowly started to love being in front of the camera, and I was building my portfolio with all of these tests shoots. I didn’t even realize it! In the streets of Soho, I remember realizing how much fun it was. Yet still, I was uncertain.

One day in 2017, I got a DM on Instagram from a casting agency, asking me to come in to try out for a role in a commercial. I thought it was a scam, but something told me to just give it a go. One of my aspiring model friends at the time got the same DM, so we figured let’s try together! Neither of us booked it, but the casting agency took some digitals of us and sent it out to agencies all over the city.

To my surprise, I heard back from one. After careful thought, I signed with them a few weeks later and I”m still signed with them today. After modeling for a few years, I realized that I did love it but I wanted another outlet for my creativity. I started taking content creation seriously in 2021, and here we are today!

I’m most proud of growing into my beauty; taking it from something I used to be ashamed of and turning it into something that can not only pay the bills, but inspire others. The impact I’ve had on other young girls like me has been the most amazing part of this experience.

How did you build your audience on social media?

The key to building my audience has truly been being myself. Trying to hide or change who I was never worked out for me, and it never felt authentic. The second that I released expectations and care of what others think, I started to flourish. Being confident in a plus size body when it wasn’t “trendy” definitely allowed me to stand out on social media. Though it is something that we see much more often now, I don’t believe people will ever be tired of seeing someone confident in their own skin. My advice would be to be yourself to the fullest extent. It is the only real thing that will set you apart from others.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a creative is finally being able to confidently say that I am a creative! As silly as it sounds, I doubted my creative abilities for so long. Since I couldn’t sing, act, dance, draw, or any of the other obvious creative careers, I struggled finding an outlet that works for me. With content creation, I get to create my own brand, share my creative expression through fashion, and inspire others–all in one!

Another thing that I love about being a creative is having a vision and seeing it come to life. Once I get an urge to create, that is simply all I want to do. I love seeing my ideas turn into something that I can share with others. Receiving positive feedback and building a community through my creative expression is a dream come true.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/khloekatera/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@khloekatera

Image Credits
I took all photos myself. :)