When we chose marathoner and food-and-fitness blogger Latoya Shauntay Snell—or the Running Fat Chef, as she calls herself—to be one of the first writers featured on The Glow Up (we featured her on Day Two!), it’s because we knew hers was a voice that could speak to so many women; women who are committed to fitness (or aspire to be), but don’t have prototypically athletic bodies. That would prove true when her personal essay, “I’m a Plus-Size Runner and I Got Heckled at the NYC Marathon” became The Glow Up’s first viral story.
Now, Snell is reaching and relating to even more women, via a new, size-inclusive collaboration with body positive lifestyle brand Superfit Hero. Available in extra-small through 5XL, the capsule collection of active separates is intended “to amplify the idea that real athletes don’t look a certain way. What they have in common is ENDURANCE,” according to a statement from the brand.
“Nothing that anyone has said to me is worse than the things I’ve already said to myself,” says Snell in one of her collection’s promotional videos. But as we already know from her groundbreaking essay, Snell is fueled by not only endurance but resilience. Daily, this working mother and wife defies all expectations of what athleticism looks like—with 18 marathons and counting under her belt.
As the first ethically made, premium activewear line made for women sizes XS-5XL, Superfit Hero is breaking ground, too. With a mission to “empower women through fitness,” the Los Angeles-based women’s company has made its mark by featuring diverse body types as models for the brand and sponsoring plus size and nontraditional athletes like American weightlifter, two-time Olympian and 2016 Bronze medalist Sarah Robles and pole dancing and fitness instructor Roz “The Diva” Mays.
You can view silhouettes from Snell’s collaboration with Superfit Hero below; the collection is available now on their website.