The Birds Papaya On Body Neutrality + What’s In Her Fitglow Bag

Sarah Nicole Landry, better known as The Birds Papaya has amassed over 1 million followers on Instagram and it’s no surprise why. Landry has become a force to be reckoned with on social media in the era of body positivity, where more influencers are combatting the ‘picture-perfect’ social media image by opening up about their struggles and journeys with body image and self love. The beloved mother of three, content creator, writer and influencer has dedicated her platform to shedding light on authentic beauty, daily struggles and battles related to self image and is breaking free of society’s unrealistic beauty standards. We caught up with the social media star who dishes on why she identifies as body neutrality rather than body positivity, what “Own Your Beauty” means to her and what’s in her Fitglow Beauty goodie bag. 

Fitglow: How did you first decide to take the plunge into deciding you wanted to bring awareness to being body positive?

Sarah: It sort of happened by my own healing from disordered eating, wanting to normalize a lot of things that brought me a lot of shame. That said, I don't identify as "body positive" mostly because I believe for so many women often feels like just another thing they are failing at. Instead, I like to work around body neutrality, the idea that our bodies are not the most important parts of us, and to focus on living confidently beyond our bodies! 

Fitglow: How do you continuously work on your self love?

Sarah: For many we expect self love to be a FEELING, when in fact it's more action than reaction. It's paying attention to yourself, listening, creating a self-awareness and feeding it it's needs in tangible, loving ways. 

Fitglow: How has social media and your journey as Birds Papaya changed how you view yourself? 

Sarah: Years ago, it created a need to be validated all the time in how I looked, since I was sharing my weight loss journey. Now, it's more of a real take on life, in a journalistic way. This way, I can write and post whatever is truly going on in my heart and mind, no longer just seeking acceptance. I accept myself, so therefore I share what's going on in real ways! 

Fitglow: What gave you the courage to be one of the faces of the body positivity movement? 

Sarah: Years ago when I started to be more vulnerable with my body, I was asked to model for an underwear brand Knixwear. This absolutely terrified me, but I did it. When they posted the photo, it was an incredibly raw and real image of my body. The response was not one that I expected, as thousands of women commented saying that they had a body JUST like mine, and had never seen it represented before. I knew I needed to show up more not just for myself, but for all the women who had always felt like they needed to hide themselves, because they felt alone in their bodies.

Fitglow: What do you think when you hear “Own Your Beauty” and how do you own your beauty? 

Sarah: I think beauty became such a societally standard, when in fact its soooo much more multifaceted than we've seen represented. We are all individually beautiful in our own ways, and I really believe that. When we own that for ourselves, we have the opportunity to make choices for our own beauty, and how we want to represent that, knowing at the end of the day, we are beautiful from the inside out first. 

Fitglow: What are your go-to beauty tips and tricks to feeling your best? 

Sarah: When you take that time in the day to do your makeup, use that time to speak into yourself. Recognize that the self-touch is an act of love. Have fun with it, it's ok if you want to go super natural, or wing that eyeliner like the cat woman you are. We have so much freedom and so much creativity, take that into your hands! 

Fitglow: What’s in your Fitglow Beauty goodie bag? 

Sarah: Good Lash +, Night Lip Serum, Multi Use Palette, and literally every shade of the Lip Colour Serums!!!