From working as a kitchen assistant in a hotel to having more than 32,300 followers on Instagram. Ornella Forcellati, better known as Orne, has managed to make a name for herself in the influencer world from Lanzarote thanks to her plus size fashion content.
The 25-year-old began her journey in the world of content creators after the outbreak of the pandemic and, although she has not yet managed to “make a living from it”, she has managed to hook thousands of users with her naturalness in front of the camera and her “body positive” and “curvy style” content.
As of today, the influencer can earn up to 600 euros per collaboration in a good month, although she admits that, for the moment, the earnings are very irregular, since there are months in which she has no collaboration. Therefore, Ornella is forced to combine social media with her work in a clothing store.
At first, Orne's content was very varied, with makeup tips, manicures and even cooking recipes, but she soon realized that what people were interested in was clothing. “90% of my content today is fashion for plus sizes”, she says.
“When I started this journey I was no longer afraid of what people would say about the size I wear, because I have struggled with my body all my life and I have reached a point where I don't care what people think about it”, she adds.
“It's very difficult to get out of the loop of wanting to lose weight”
Ornella insists that, as of today, she loves and accepts herself as she is. “Now I wear whatever I want and I'm not afraid of what people will say”, she says. However, she also acknowledges that it has been a very difficult process to get there.
“I've been dieting all my life, since I was 13 years old, but I got to a point where I said: that's it, now I love and accept myself”, she explains. “I know I have to eat a healthy diet and I should exercise more, but I no longer beat myself up about the weight itself”.
However, she does confess to having worse and better times when it comes to this issue. “Since I've been an influencer, I have considered losing weight, in fact, I was on a food and training plan, but I lasted two months”.
The young woman points out that “it is very difficult to get out of the loop of wanting to lose weight”. “When I was in the second year of high school I weighed 70 kilos and I thought I was very fat. Now I see the photos and I looked spectacular. At what point did they put that thought in my head when I was so young?”, she asks herself.
In a small place “people tend to criticize more”
The young influencer explains that, despite being “the center of a target”, for being a woman, for her sexual orientation and for her body, she does not receive many derogatory comments about it on her Instagram account, and the few that are sent to her do not usually affect her.
“I have a fairly healthy profile, I don't receive many criticisms for my body”, she says. “And the few that I receive honestly don't bother me”.
“The criticisms that really frustrate me are when I put effort into a video and a person comes to complain that I upload it at 9 when I said I would do it at 8”, says Ornella. “I'm working hard uploading three videos a day every day and because I fail with one, well, it bothers me”.
However, she does believe that living in a place as small as Lanzarote “people tend to criticize more”. “Many think: who does she think she is, where is she going acting like an influencer, but I don't consider it to be because of my body in particular, but because I'm doing something that is out of the ordinary”.
In addition, the young woman emphasizes that there is an issue “that is not talked about much, but it is a reality” and that is the discrimination within the influencer world itself towards plus size girls, in terms of collaborations.
“They launch a campaign in the Canary Islands and call many influencers except for the plus sizes and it's not even a matter of followers or statistics”, she explains. “There are profiles with 60,000 followers living off Instagram, but I have plus size colleagues with the same number and incredible statistics who can't even consider it, it's clear that something is happening”.
“A good month I can earn up to 1,800 euros”
In any case, Ornella's work is paying off, since, although she insists that today she cannot live entirely from being an influencer, it does give her money.
“I don't earn money for being an influencer every month, it's not something stable, although a good month with three collaborations I can earn up to 1,800 euros and I'm talking about three reels and 6 stories for each collaboration”, says the young woman. “However, there are months when I have nothing”.
In addition, she emphasizes that she charges that being a very small profile. “Imagine the people who have 100,000 followers, with that number of followers you can live off this 100%”, she insists. “I would love to be able to get to that”.
To make sure she does the whole process correctly, the young woman has joined the agency Let's Be Influenced, which represents celebrities such as Rocío Camacho, Susana Megan or Judith Arias. The latter has more than 1.5 million followers on the social network.
“I am self-employed, so the agency takes care of managing absolutely everything, such as invoices or collaboration contracts, they even propose me to brands”, explains the young woman. “I am one of the smallest profiles in the agency, but it is very worthwhile to be inside”.
Free clothes thanks to her collaborations with Shein
Many people wonder if influencers pay and really keep the clothes they show in their videos and publications. In Orne's case, she receives all the Shein garments for free, as if it were a gift, since she has a collaboration agreement with the brand.
“Shein gives me the clothes, that's why I do a lot of content from the online store”, she explains. She also adds that she opts for Shein because she likes the brand and because you can find plus sizes, of all styles and sizes.
She also clarifies the controversy surrounding the labeling of content as advertising, something that many influencers hide or directly ignore in their stories.
“If the collaboration is not paid, I don't have to label it, and Shein's are not paid because they are considered gifts, that's why I don't put the typical #AD”, she points out. “However, I do it when I publish content from the Kiabi clothing brand, since with them they are paid collaborations”.
“People think that being an influencer is living the dream”
Although the work of an influencer is made up as a fun, flexible job with which you earn a lot of money, Ornella warns that it is not a bed of roses either.
“Creating content on social networks takes up a lot of your time, you never disconnect, people think it's living the dream and I would invite everyone to live a month like me”, she insists. “You never rest because you have the work in the palm of your hand, in your mobile that you take everywhere”.
However, the young woman is clear that she would like to dedicate herself entirely to this in the future. “I don't think this job has an expiration date”, says the influencer. “Also, I have also considered studying marketing, because I love it, but right now it would be difficult to combine my work in the clothing store, studies and social media”.
In any case, Ornella encourages anyone who likes content creation to be an influencer and gives a key advice to succeed: “give a twist to what already exists”. In addition, she insists that they get mentalized and that “they don't care what other people may say or think”. “In the end, everything you get is more good than bad”.