We recently connected with Love Atiya and have shared our conversation below.

Love Atiya, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

I’ve been misunderstood my entire life and it’s one of my favorite things about life.

When I was a child I knew that I was different and that people didn’t understand the way I dressed, the way I spelled, the way I talked, the way I fought for animals etc

As a teen my confidence in my differentness began to dwindle. I felt invisible, I felt strange, I felt “wrong” in my existence.

It wasn’t until I truly SAW myself that I realized how AMAZING it is to be misunderstood. To be easily understood to me, means to be easily digested. I’m not for everyone and that’s a wonderful thing. I used to want to be for everyone, I wanted everyone to like me, I wanted everyone to hear me and see me and I realized not everyone is supposed to hear and see or feel me.

Online and in real life I am known as a “Sex Positive Animal Activist” which are two very taboo things.

Some people may assume I’m promiscuous because I’m in this sex positive space. Some people may think I’m an “angry vegan” because I speak up when I see an animals rights being stolen from them.

Because I’m ever evolving and a virgo it’s hard for people to keep up, hence the constant mischaracterization. It is not my responsibility to help people keep up with me.

Some people can only see you based on how they see themselves. I’m learning how to have compassion for people who can’t see or understand themselves and are also learning to let them off the hook when they can’t or refuse to see me.

Some people are determined to keep this image of who they think I am or who they want me to be and the most freeing thing is practicing daily to not give a damn about their perceptions while continuously learning new ways to love myself.

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?

One of the best ways to learn about all that I’ve done is to listen to my podcast “The Love Atiya Experience”.

I like to think of my podcast as a personal diary I left open for the world to see.

One of my greatest accomplishments has been creating this podcast with no podcasting experience and putting my life, trauma, lessons and crazy stories on display for the world.

I talk about the web series I directed, starred in, produced and wrote about my tragic love life back in 2018.

I talk about the trauma in my modeling career that led me to start my photography company I started when I moved to Atlanta called “The Lens Goddess”.

Where I created a safe space for models and regular beautiful people who wanted to love themselves a little more.

I talk about being a 24 year old virgin and how my sexual explorations in my last couple of years lead me to my celibacy journey that I am on today.

I talk about my journey with animal rights, why you shouldn’t support zoos, circuses, aquariums and any other industry that exploits animals or uses them for entertainment.

I talk about owning a company from the age of 4 until now and how my paper fan company turned into a vegan hair and skin care line called Ethereal By Love Atiya.

The Love Atiya Experience Podcast is definitely one of my greatest accomplishments and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to impact so many lives so positively with my thoughts, words and experiences.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My greatest advice when it comes to building your audience on social media, would be to BE YOURSELF UNAPOLOGETICALLY.

The internet can be a ruthless place and it’s very easy to become an imposter and forget who you are.

People focus so much on “having a niche” and an “aesthetic” that they forget to show who they are in real life.

My followers (or I like to call them my Love Bugs) feel like we’re best friends. They feel comfortable asking me questions about love, relationships and sex because of how transparent I am about my journey.

They feel like they can trust me and my advice because of how authentic I am online and in real life.

Of course you have to protect yourself because of how reckless some people on the internet can be but I 10/10 recommend doing YOU and the right people and following and supporters will come with ease.

I remember making a video where I said “I’m so done trying to be perfect and get it right on here, I’m just going to be myself and talk” then boom, my first viral video was posted a few minutes after I’d made that declaration. It was a video about the things I wish I knew before sharing my virginity with my partner.

I was offered a Tiktok partnership in 2020 because I spoke about owning a vegan and cruelty free hair and skin care business where I made all of my products myself and Tiktok thought that was something they wanted me to teach people about on their platform.

I made Tiktoks about animal rights and learned people actually cared about learning about what I was passionate about and also wanted to learn how they could take part in making a difference!

The more vocal I was about who I am and what I was up to, the more opportunities and followers I received.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I have three main goals in everything that I do.

My missions are to:

1. Help the environment and animals by spreading awareness about all things animal rights and teaching people how to be compassionate towards the earth and animals and why it’s so important.

2. Helping people love themselves more, see themselves in a better light and feel more confidence in who they are. Because in a world that’s constantly trying to bring us down, it’s important to be our own biggest fans and take care of ourselves.

3. Breaking the shame and stigma surrounding sex and pleasure. Pleasure shouldn’t be taboo, consent should be a priority in our teachings and self love and self pleasure is HIGHLY important and is okay to be curious about.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.loveatiya.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loveatiya/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/iloveatiya
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuOZTBh2mYDPD9Jr8WVb5qg
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@iloveatiya?lang=en Podcast: https://theloveatiyaexperience.buzzsprout.com/

Image Credits
Thecorkbros Photography MTBlackPhotography Stilljustpj Photography The Lens Goddess Photography