My name is Latoya Shauntay Snell.
Everything starts out with a name, right? So insider -- I kinda hate pretentious ass bios but I know that they're necessary. If you want to read the long and short of it, here's a cleaner, professional version of my accolades here.
If not, read this semi contained potty mouthed journey with a cup of coffee, a sippy box or maybe even a bottle of jack.
I'm an eighties kid who takes herself seriously while NOT taking herself seriously. I'm a recovering self defeatist, walking contradiction and have a ridiculous love/hate relationship with all sorts of F words -- good and bad ones.
Life before this blog, fitness or even the culinary journey took me through different areas of social work, administration and even as an open mic poet -- yeah, I was called Bronze Sunset and eventually Alterego because of my sarcastic love poems and crude sense of humor. After the passing of my father in 2009, I found myself penniless, out of work thanks to a terrible recession around 2008 and fortunate enough to be surrounded by a community of incredible people who believed in my culinary abilities before I considered pursuing it as a profession.
I graduated from Star Career Academy of New York, a school that's not around any longer due to reasons beyond me, I had the opportunity to work as a freelance food stylist, photographer, explored the world of corporate dining and working in and out of restaurants.
One week before Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, I experienced a sharp pain that felt similar to being stabbed; it was a feeling that I couldn't brush off. What I brushed off as a day off from work turned out to be a year from hell. I was freshly diagnosed with disc degeneration, moderate level sciatica, a pretty acute herniated disc - L5, S1 and L4, S1 to be exact - and my immune system was crashing down -- I was well over 265 lbs thanks to depression and other factors thrown into the picture. My doctor didn't think I'd make it to see 30 years old.
On May 28, 2013, I laughed until I couldn't laugh any longer. I was tired of being the 'funny fat friend' who transitioned from short term to long term disability and over the the gimmicks provided from the diet industry.
Initially, this was a 'weight loss journey' and I lost 100 pounds in a year. I was interviewed by Redbook Magazine and along the way, I fell in love with running. A 13+ year MySpace friendship with an overseas friend led me into signing up for a half marathon as a bucket list item. Somehow I never caught the memo that I checked it off. While training for my first half, with no idea on what the fuck I was doing, I linked up with a great crew called Black Girls Run. The Bed Stuy chapter became an extension of my lifelines and before I knew it, I took on an earlier race on January 11, 2014.
By this point, I was down to 170 pounds and everyone expected this happily ever after ending. Instead I was met with the same backlash as I did when I was well over 250 pounds. This time, I was told that I lost TOO MUCH WEIGHT, accused of drug abuse and told that I was too skinny. Surely it didn't help my dwindling self esteem and the pipe dream that I was sold about being 'happier' after weight loss. To others, visibly I was both acceptable and unacceptable. To myself, I wasn't happy with the reflection and what once was a mission for health benefits started looking like vanity. I gained half of my weight back - some of it intentionally - almost a year and a half later. |
After listening to some shitty advice invoked by diet culture, I landed myself in the hospital while in the middle of my first marathon training and as a brand new functioning alcoholic, I had a change of heart in my journey; April 15, 2015 led me into the path of a fitness journey. Learning the hard way that nobody trains for a marathon with 4 hours of sleep, working 12 hour shifts, working out 2 -3 hours a day, six days a week on 1200 - 1400 calories isn't healthy forever changed my perspective. Incorporating a healthy relationship with food without stigmas and shame, respecting my body and working with the diagnoses handed to me, I wanted to become stronger, remain physically fit and happy at any size.
Somehow this journey led me to becoming an accidental activist...
I started this blog Running Fat Chef - HEY VISITOR - as an open ended diary that can both journalize my crazy adventures and allow others to come on an epic journey with me. This was never designed to be a movement, a cry for stardom or recognition or even something that I thought people would care about.
Body shaming happened on here fairly early on my blog and some these 'keyboard warriors' trampled their happy little asses over to my social media accounts, trolling my images, videos and inboxes. For transparency sake, my initial responses weren't for inspiration; I wanted these people to feel my frustration and I utilized the same callout culture that many people abuse today. I would screenshot their interaction and tell them off. This feels great for about five minutes but after a while, I questioned how could I make a difference through all of these negative comments. In turn, I started attempts of engaging online hecklers who harassed me, not for entertainment, but to ask why. Please don't interpret these words as empathy for the heckler but more of understanding the question that many of us run across when we're attacked: WHY ME? This line of questioning made me kinda-sorta baby viral through BuzzFeed Health back in January 2017. And then I found myself in SELF Magazine being noted for my workouts on Instagram--WHOA. And then I started running with people that I admired from afar. Some of these dynamic athletes and activists are people that I regularly communicate with and I gifted a different title: Friends.
Body shaming happened on here fairly early on my blog and some these 'keyboard warriors' trampled their happy little asses over to my social media accounts, trolling my images, videos and inboxes. For transparency sake, my initial responses weren't for inspiration; I wanted these people to feel my frustration and I utilized the same callout culture that many people abuse today. I would screenshot their interaction and tell them off. This feels great for about five minutes but after a while, I questioned how could I make a difference through all of these negative comments. In turn, I started attempts of engaging online hecklers who harassed me, not for entertainment, but to ask why. Please don't interpret these words as empathy for the heckler but more of understanding the question that many of us run across when we're attacked: WHY ME? This line of questioning made me kinda-sorta baby viral through BuzzFeed Health back in January 2017. And then I found myself in SELF Magazine being noted for my workouts on Instagram--WHOA. And then I started running with people that I admired from afar. Some of these dynamic athletes and activists are people that I regularly communicate with and I gifted a different title: Friends.
While encountering highs, I hit a heavy low in August 2017 where I considered shutting down this blog and fitness journey. I miscarried with twins and was diagnosed with over 21 fibroids and endometriosis. Initially I didn't want to continue but signed up for two marathons and an ultra previously. Through the support of close friends and family, I opted to continue training. The personal intention was to complete these races then not sign up for another one.
The course was severely changed after being heckled at the 2017 New York City Marathon. Around this point, a prominent platform called The Root reached out to me and thought the blog touched on issues in fitness, asking if I'd like to be a contributing writer. Despite this being a secret dream and passion of mine, I didn't think I was good enough to write professionally. My husband told me to take a chance and I opted to talk about this adventure -- thanks husband.
Since November 30, 2017 and publishing 'I'm a Plus-Size Runner and I Got Heckled at the NYC Marathon,' I haven't been able to swat you guys away-- and I'm thankful for it. What was once an open love letter to running and fat girl adventures with harsh realities turned into a restoration of my faith in humanity. |
I refuse to stop being an adrenaline junkie for fitness and I'm at a place where I've embraced being a body politics advocate - basically, think of it as anti washed out, marketable version of the body positive movement. My mission is to stimulate change in the fitness and wellness space to and walk people through the process of doing more than talk about diversity, equity and true inclusion of people from all walks of life beyond a narrow lens. As a multi marginalized athlete, I want to share my journey of being a fat, Black, queer and chronically ill athlete with layers of humanity, humor and at times, room for discomfort in efforts of stimulating long term change.
But maybe you're saying 'Well, I get all that but what does that mean?"
I realized that epic people DO epic shit at all sizes, shapes and walks of life -- and one of those people happens to be me. And yeah, I'm pretty fucking normal.
So here I stand -- well over the 200 count mark of road, trail and obstacle course racing events since 2014, bearing over 100 finisher medals with a less pretentious and unorthodox about me section. Through being my most authentic self, evolving my goals, questioning how I can be better and do better, I feel blessed.
So here I stand -- well over the 200 count mark of road, trail and obstacle course racing events since 2014, bearing over 100 finisher medals with a less pretentious and unorthodox about me section. Through being my most authentic self, evolving my goals, questioning how I can be better and do better, I feel blessed.
I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane and not at gunpoint. I went paragliding off an epic ass mountain in Chamonix, France. I am a mother. Married to a fantastic husband who I haven't managed to choke out and he takes most of my dope photos. I travel for medals (sometimes), good food experiences, epic ass people, networking and races -- DUH. I speak to small and large groups about body politics, self love, fitness at all sizes, inclusion and diversity in the fitness, food and wellness space. Most importantly, I still run for the ice cream truck in the summer. I don't view my body as a vessel that works against me. I take chances. Some days are still physically grueling as hell. Hard moments tend to visit me when I don't want to be bothered. My challenges evolve by the day. I clap back hard at hecklers on rare occasions. My mouth is still a beautiful remix of Cardi B and Maya Angelou. And I'm still a proud plus-size, openly queer Black athlete with a lot of hurdles. I learned how to love me.
I'm Latoya Shauntay Snell and I'm a recovering self-defeatist in motion.
Altimese Nichole CurryPublicist | The Ezer AgencyFor press inquiries or to hire me at your next event, please reach out to the incredible and fabulous Altimese Nichole through the button below.
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