Whitney Simmons: The Most Inspirational Fitness Influencer
Whitney Simmons has made her mark in the fitness influencer community. From brand deals with Gymshark and Alani Nu, co-founding a swim brand, Toluca Swim, and creating her own app, Alive. There is so much to celebrate when it comes to Whitney’s YouTube and social media influencer career but starting was not the easiest.
Back in college, Whitney was cut from her college cheerleading team. This caused many issues in her life to arise again. Whitney found herself in an unhealthy lifestyle and her depression taking over. Whitney’s father encouraged her to get back into the gym and lifting weights. Whitney found a newfound passion in the gym and began posting her results and gym content to YouTube and Instagram. Fitness had become a kind of therapy for Whitney and her story and infectious energy began to attract hundreds and thousands of followers. In 2016, Whitney told her mom she was leaving her full-time job in marketing to pursue YouTube full-time. This decision was very rewarding to her. she currently has over 2 million YouTube subscribers, over 3 million Instagram followers, and 3 different clothing line collaborations with Gymshark being one of their most notable fitness influencers they work with. It clearly seems like she has a dream career and a dream life but this is not always the case even with influencers.
Whitney has always been very open on her channel about mental health and her autoimmune disorder that causes her psoriasis. She admits to having struggles in areas of her life and shares that with her audience. Whitney constantly shares photos and content highlighting her psoriasis and how she used to dream of clear skin and spent her time trying to hide her psoriasis. She took this energy and made it into a positive one. She uses her psoriasis to talk about self love and body positivity in her media outlets. This is essentially important as in the fitness community many have a hard time accepting themselves and to see Whitney openly talking about her autoimmune disorder and shining a public light on diseases such as psoriasis it gives her followers hope and confidence. Whitney also talks a lot about mental health on her channel. She is very open in regards to her depression and anxiety and shares that with her following.
Whitney’s opening phrase on YouTube is “It’s a beautiful day to be alive”. Her positivity and inspirational videos have always been a hit and have inspired her audience to take control over their health in the ways Whitney has. This past year in 2021, Whitney lost a dear friend to cancer. She found out about his passing while in the gym and her safest and happiest place did not feel all that happy anymore. Her mental health began to decline after this horrible event in her life and the gym was no longer a place she could go and she could not even get out of bed most days. She began having suicidal thoughts and sought out professional help and was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. She has been open and honest about her journey with her mental health by posting content highlighting what she is going through. Whitney is currently navigating her journey to balance her very public healthy lifestyle and her mental health. She has been open about it being difficult. Before she openly shared her diagnosis, Whitney has always had conversations on how mental health is very important. She has touched upon this in her videos as the gym has saved her from some of the darkest times in her life in the past. Some viewers do not take very well to some of these conversations as many influencers are seen to have it all. Many forget that influencers are people too and they are not just around for entertainment of the public. They deal with a lot of the same stresses the average person does to ranging from mental health, grief, sadness, etc. I think this is something that needs to be understood in the media world that fame and fortune does not mean everything comes easy. There are moments in life where we all struggle no matter of our wealth status or fame status. Mental health is a very real issue for many people even those we look up to on our screens. Whitney makes a great contribution to the public conversation on mental health which is something that should be more prevalent in the fitness community when so much is at stake with body image on the table. Whitney’s choice to speak publicly has encouraged her fans to feel more connected to her. There is a huge element when fans and influencers can relate on basic human issues and struggles. It bridges the gap between the average person and the people who are plastered all over our screens on social media all the time.
In regards to the message Whitney Simmons gives to us all and radiates from her branding is that health is not just having a fit body or the perfect muscles. To be truly in good health means to be nurturing every part of ourselves from the inside out. From our minds, to our bodies and our spirits. Whitney does a great job sharing this energy with her following. Her videos are inspirational and invoke people to feel a positive way after interacting with her content. I think it truly helps people and especially young people out there when they se influencers embracing each and every part of themselves. There are so many influencers nowadays who are constantly editing their content to uphold unrealistic body standards. As we talked and read about in class in previous chapters, this is horrible content for children to consume and leads to a variety of mental health conditions from not feeling like they fit the mold of what is shown on the media. I think Whitney combats this by being unapologetically herself in each way and choosing to be open about the things that cause suffering in her life, showing us that she is human, raw and real. Her unfiltered content is inspiring and is what I truly think the social media realm needs more of.
Cassata , C. (2021, November 12). The 3 best plaque psoriasis treatments, according to dermatologists. Health.com. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.health.com/condition/psoriasis/plaque-psoriasis-treatment
Gray, C. (2021, November 18). “I lied to myself so many times”: How depression changed Whitney Simmons’ view of health. Stylist. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.stylist.co.uk/fitness-health/wellbeing/whitney-simmons-mental-illness/586736
Reich, D. (2018, April 17). How Whitney Simmons went from unemployed to YouTube phenomenon. Forbes. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danreich/2018/04/16/whitney-simmons-from-unemployed-to-youtube-phenomenon/?sh=3f012f91541a
