Influencer
Content Creator & Life Coach Tracy Kiss Shares Why Body Positivity and Mental Health Content Is Critical
Tracy Kiss is a life coach, content creator, mom of two, and much more. She is part of the Sintillate Talent team and works diligently to share fitness, body positivity, and mental health content online. Today, she shares her journey to becoming a content creator and why body positivity and mental content are critical.
About Tracy Kiss
Tracy Kiss is a mom of two, a life coach, a vegan, a personal trainer, a yoga instructor, and a meditation teacher. She stepped into the limelight at 18 after being scouted for modeling, which was a shock initially.
She shares, “When I became a model, I was very shy. I was very educated. I focused mostly on books my whole life, so I was the opposite of what you would expect an influencer to be. I was that bookworm who was always working, doing more homework than the other children, and just really focused on education.”
At the time, being a geek and working hard led her to be bullied by other children for being the teacher’s pet and the person who was always right in class.
“When you move into the world of influencing and social media, it’s very visual. We look at appearance. We judge people within seconds of seeing their content and decide if we want to engage [with] it or not.”
This realization made her understand that the world was more shallow than she initially believed.
“Having that cross of brains and beauty meant that I could actually deliver a very valuable, important life lesson to people by engaging them with something that draws the eye and catches their attention through photos and videos.”
With deeper messages and visually appealing content, Tracy has amassed nearly five million social media followers.
Mental Health & Body Positivity Online
Tracy began sharing about mental health and body positivity online after having two children as a single parent. She experienced many sleepless nights and struggled with losing baby weight. Rather than hide this, she decided to share this experience with others online.
“I just showed a really open and honest blog about stretch marks and dark circles under your eyes, the ways to help children sleep better, and how to make baby food from scratch.”
At the time, these were uncommon topics for people to discuss online, and she quickly drew an audience who appreciated her openness and realness.
“We don’t have to pretend to be perfect. I think a lot of it wants to hold us against celebrities and magazines and to be able to say. You can look like this stick-thin supermodel who never had a spot on her face and sleeps for ten hours a night.”
She adds that we all wake up with frizzy hair, acne, and dark circles from time to time, especially mothers juggling so many things at once.
Tracy is also incredibly honest about aesthetics and surgery.
“I’ve actually had lots of different surgeries over the year and actually written and blogged and video diaried my journeys throughout… We shouldn’t feel ashamed of our bodies. We should love our bodies and be in touch with them, and know that if we do want to make changes, whether it’s dying our hair, wearing fake tan, having surgery, having filler or Botox, it’s our right to do so.”
For example, she had prominent stretch marks across her skin after having children. At the time, few people shared openly about stretch marks, which made her feel alone and ashamed.
“I had my stretch marks tattooed on television for a body positivity show to show that you can turn something unsightly or something you wish to change into something very meaningful and motivating.”
She also shared about different health issues she experienced. For example, when she had a pap smear come back with precancerous cervical cells, she spoke about this online and was even the first person in the world to share a cervix selfie with a picture of the abnormal cells.
Experiencing Criticism Online
Despite her positive messages and online presentation, Tracy experiences criticism for her content.
“I’ve had fillers and box, and surgery and some people will say you must really hate yourself to change yourself.”
However, she expresses that this is not the case and compares making changes to yourself as a way to treat yourself well, much like buying a beautiful pair of shoes.
Tracy believes that social media has dramatically impacted body positivity for the good and the bad. On the one hand, social media and recent campaigns, such as the Dove ‘Real Beauty’ campaign, has pushed for more body positivity.
On the other hand, Tracy notes, “There is almost a hatred towards fitness influencers, which I really wasn’t expecting because when I shared my pregnancy diary, losing weight after having babies, it was very much welcomed… On the other hand, it went so far that other women said, “Well, I’ve just had a baby. How on Earth am I going to do 10-star jumps and have a six-pack?”
She explains that everyone’s journey is different. However, this did lead her to dig into her education in psychology and life coaching.
Tracy’s life coaching content primarily focuses on accessible information and advice to help people be the change they wish to see in themselves.
Changing The World with Her Content
“I think one of the biggest things for me, content-wise, that talked about body positivity was having a female circumcision.
She explains that for the first 30 years of her life, she had no idea that the pain she was in from her genitalia was abnormal.
@tracykisscoaching Use my code at @glowmode_official 🌟 #GLOWMODEsupport love the 3D deep-molded cups and sweat-wicking material which is so easy to take on and off #fitness #gym #gynwear #fyp #foryou #foryoupage ♬ Heat Waves – Glass Animals
“It made me feel so sad and sick that as a woman, I could live my whole life in discomfort and pain because I didn’t know otherwise because we don’t talk about these things, so I actually had surgery on television for that reason.”
After her surgery, she kept her labia and made it into a necklace, which prompted Vogue to write about it.
“[This] was so heartwarming for me because it went out to teenage girls in America, to know your body and not be ashamed.”
Brand Partnerships
Throughout her career as a content creator, Tracy has collaborated with different companies. She warns that it can be easy to be tempted by the money when companies flash dollar signs at you.
However, “I always look at brands that I work with and say to myself, “Would I use this? It is purposeful to my life?” and would I want to tell other people that they should go down this route…. I think that really is what sets some influencers apart from others.”
Her favorite brand partnerships are with fitness companies. One of her favorite companies to work with is Body Power, the UK’s biggest health and fitness exhibition.
“I went on to write for lots of different fitness magazines around the world. The idea being that you are your own product. You are the person who can create the story.”
Final Thoughts
Tracy shares that she is getting ready to have a hair transplant, which she is very excited about after experiencing thinning hair from having children and her life in general.
“I will be live streaming for seven hours, my hair transplant surgery, to show women that you can take control of your crowing glory. At any age, you can make decisions to feel and look your best.”
