Inspiring Women: Meet Jewelz

This blog was originally created by Madeleine Villa.

This week's inspiring woman is none other than @jewelzjourney!  A body-positive plus model native to Toronto making waves online to her 100k + audience on Instagram!

Jewelz Mazzei is one of Henkaa’s models, brand ambassadors, and supporters. Read more to learn why we think she is an inspiring woman and why you should too!

Jewelz runs two influential Instagram accounts: her personal account @jewelzjourney is all about celebrating her body and her journey of self-love. Her second account @bigandblunt is a “positivity and confidence” account dedicated to the plus community.  

A big part of her following for her personal account came from the honest and raw experiences she shared.

“My account just took off, like it had a mind of its own. People just started gravitating towards it, I think it's because of how authentic and real the photos and stuff I post were and are. It’s turned into something I would have never imagined possible. A place for people to go to, to feel good about their body.”

Jewelz has struggled with anxiety and body image for many years; over time, she's found ways to deal with it but it’s still something she works on every day. “I've always just gained weight but a few years ago I lost weight and gained it back. It was frustrating not to fit in my clothes at first but I just had to remind myself, ‘hey they’re clothes, just get new ones. Why am I going to let my happiness be determined by the size of my jeans?’”

When she was growing up, she was severely bullied, and this has motivated her to become a teacher, so that she can be a positive role model and mentor to kids so they don't have to go through what she did. 

 

Much of Jewelz's presence online is about being brutally honest about what it’s like to be a plus size woman. She is incredibly vulnerable and doesn't hold back. Whether it’s her dancing vids or personal captions - her confidence and self-love is evident and inspiring.

With over 170 thousand followers between her two body-positive accounts, she's a staple in the Toronto plus community.

She says that her goal is to “see true diversity represented in the media” and to “continue to inspire people” by sharing her story.

 

It’s pretty easy to see why Jewelz is so inspiring to the community she leads: her messages of empowerment and support for her community is refreshing. When asked about which women inspire her she included other plus -size models like Latoya (who we featured on the previous inspiring women blog).

 

 

 

She says that her mom would be her biggest inspiration because “she inspires me to keep going and keep fighting” which was apparent this winter when her mother was struck by a van and immediately rushed to the hospital. It was a very difficult past four months dealing with her mother's health, but the family came together in support and things are looking up. Recently her mom was able to spend her first day back home, celebrating the accomplishment on Instagram Jewelz said in her caption: “I hope to be even half as strong as you one day mom! I am beyond proud of you for making it this far in such a short time, and with such a positive attitude. You're always so happy and setting goals for yourself. It's beautiful to see how much you believe in yourself. Thank you for always inspiring me.”

We love working with Jewelz as our brand ambassador, for photoshoots and events. When we asked her about what she thought about us she said:

“Working with Henkaa is my favorite. It's the one company I would stand behind and work with forever. They show diversity not just in size but all around. Everyone I've worked with from the team has been so amazing and friendly. It's always the best time working with Henkaa.”

From our time working with Jewelz we can not stress enough how phenomenal she truly is. She is never without a smile and is such a fun and outgoing person. She reminds us all to have fun in everything we do and we could not be more excited for our future collaborations.

 

Follow @jewelzjourney and @bigandblunt to stay up to date on everything Jewelz!