- Welcome to Virgie Tovar
I'm a champion of plus-size, anti-diet and body-positive travel that is supportive of people recovering from fatphobia and eating disorders. I love creating travel opportunities where people know they'll be safe from body shaming and diet talk or negative food chatter, and they can be themselves in the body they're in! I aim to create travel experiences where you can go at your pace and where you can opt out of activities for any reason with no apologies! I've led trips with a body positive focus to Italy, Bali, and Jamaica as well as retreats in California. Since 2011, I have non-judgmentally taught people about the harmful effects of weight-based discrimination and the benefits of celebrating body diversity.
I'm a plus-size Latina, author, and lecturer. I have a Master's degree in Sexuality Studies with a focus on the intersections of body size, race and gender. I'm a contributor for Forbes.com where I cover the plus-size market and how to end weight discrimination at work. I started the hashtag campaign #LoseHateNotWeight in 2013 and in 2018 gave a TedX talk on the origins of the campaign. I edited the anthology Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love and Fashion (Seal Press, November 2012) and I'm the author of You Have the Right to Remain Fat (Feminist Press August 2018), which was placed on the American Library Association's Amelia Bloomer List, The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color (New Harbinger Publications 2020) and my newest interactive book, The Body Positive Journal (Chronicle Books 2022). I was the host of the Webby-nominated podcast, Rebel Eaters Club, which was produced for three seasons. In 2018 I was named one of the 50 most influential feminists by Bitch Magazine.
I've received the Inspire Award from Project HEAL (an organization committed to supporting people recovering from eating disorders) and Yale's Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. Virgie has been featured by the New York Times, Tech Insider, BBC, MTV, NPR, and Yahoo Health. She lives in San Francisco.