#MySkyeBody Conversations - Arielle Estoria

She is stunning as she is sassy, with powerful words that every man, woman and child should hear. Arielle Estoria is blazing her own trail in the Body Positivity movement with her poetry, music and energetic personality and we are extremely honoured to have her as one of our newest Skye models! Read more about her in our latest #MySkyeBody Conversations below!

SKYE: Tell us about yourself

Arielle: Arielle Estoria is a Writer, Author, Speaker and Creative. Her motto of "Words not for the ears but for the soul" stems from her dedication to remind her audience that words are meant to be felt and not just heard. Arielle’s first EP, a collection of music and poetry called Symphony of a Lioness is now available on iTunes or Apple Music. She is Co-author of two self published collections of poetry: Vagabonds and Zealots (2014) and Write Bloody Spill Pretty (2017) which can both be found on Amazon.com. She is made of sass and good intentions, has a deep love for car karaoke, brunch and flowers. 

SKYE: You have dedicated a considerable amount of time and energy to advocating and reinforcing the importance of self-acceptance. What is the source of your confidence?

Arielle: I say that I have been on a “body journey” for the past 10 or so years. I got to the point where hiding who I was, being ashamed of my body and biting my tongue wasn’t how I was supposed to live. Even though I hadn’t fully tapped into who I was, I knew that how I was orchestrating wasn’t in the fullness of who I was supposed to be.
Being the person who was and is always the source for encouraging others in the fullness of who they were meant to be, made me realize that I was essentially being a hypocrite because I couldn’t do that for myself. I started writing my body, my personality more love poems and letters than hate mail and that changed everything. 

SKYE: You recently made your debut as a swimsuit model when you were approached by Skye to be a part of our latest catalogue. Can you describe your thoughts and feelings when you were offered this opportunity and when you accepted?

Arielle: Haha! Well, I told them this but when they first reached out, I thought it was a scam and that I was going to get adultnapped in Portugal. I was so shocked that they would ask and entrust me with wearing and broadcasting their product. When Skye first reached out to me on Instagram I was thinking “Me?! You want ME and THIS body to wear your swimsuits?” Having that kind of confidence in me and these curves of mine definitely changed the way I saw myself.

SKYE: Wearing swimwear is usually a source of dread for many women. As this was your first time professionally in front of the camera in a bikini, what story would you like to tell when people see a photo of you in a bathing suit?

Arielle: Oh! I ABSOLUTELY DREADED IT. I mean don’t get me wrong, I was excited but I also was so, so nervous. I told myself I was going to workout extra hard, do more juice cleanses the month of the shoot and sometimes it happened and sometimes it didn’t. People always say “wow you’re so confident” or “rock that body girl” like it should be abnormal that a woman with curves should be walking around in a swimsuit. I think having this beautiful opportunity to photograph this body of mine in a swimsuit showed me that it should be considered normal, and in fact, appreciated for a woman with curves to walk around in a bathing suit. We cannot continue to orchestrate ourselves out of a concept of shame. These bodies are beautiful and deserve celebrating.

SKYE: We know through your motto “Words not for the ears but for the soul” you have touched and possibly changed lives. What words have left an impression on your soul and who were they by?

Arielle: So, so many, specifically when it comes to my body. After sharing so much of my insecurities with who I was and how I looked, I had a guy friend of mine comment back and say “I can’t wait for you to see yourself the way your Creator sees you” and I don’t know who “Creator” is for you, but that changed everything for me. I was looking at myself through the lense of myself and that was a negative lense so for a moment, I tried to see myself the way someone who formed and loved me could see me, and that changed everything for me.

SKYE: If you could be remembered by the world for one thing, what would it be?
Arielle: For how I made them feel: loved, seen and known either through my words or through my presence and being with them.

You can keep up with Arielle's body journey by visiting her blog or following her on Instagram!