Social Media Influencer Sparks Conversation on Beauty Standards After Viral Selfie
On June 22, fashion and beauty creator Naomie Pilula posted a selfie that quickly drew a flood of negative remarks, with many comments targeting her appearance, particularly her nose.
Many of the comments, which are now blocked on the post, questioned whether she was an AI-generated image rather than a real person.
In an interview with People, Pilula shared how her perspective on beauty has changed due to her lived experiences.
“In Zambia, my home country, beauty is more the curvaceous woman, the well-endowed woman,” Pilula told the outlet.
“And so, [as] somebody who is smaller, I was always told ‘eat more, fill out more.’”
She recalled that growing up, her nose was often a subject of ridicule, but by her early 20s, she stopped paying attention to the criticism and fully embraced her beauty without concern for outside opinions.
“I do know that one of the most controversial features that I have, which is what blew up the internet, was my nose. It's my father's nose. Why would I want to remove a feature that identifies me with my father? It doesn't make sense,” she expressed.
“I won't say that there was that one day where I woke up and I looked in the mirror and said, ‘Yes,’ but there was just one point where you looked at yourself and said, ‘I like the way I look,'" she continues. "And that was me. And once I arrived at that point, no one can take that away because they didn't give it to me.”
She then shared one comment she received, about receiving rhinoplasty surgery, prompting her to release a now-deleted response and prompting her to call her older sister for words of encouragement.
“The focus here shouldn't be on what people say because people will say what people say, but the focus here is: Why is it pissing you off?” she recalled her sister saying to her. “Because another comment wouldn't have. So there's something about this that pisses you off.’"
