Today we’d like to introduce you to Dani (Dani DMC) Carbonari.
Dani, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I graduated from college in 2017 with a bachelors in Broadcast Journalism. I loved being in front of the camera, it made me feel alive. I really had no idea what I wanted to do but there were a few things I did know. I knew I belonged in front of a camera in some way, I knew I didn’t want to work in a traditional field and I knew I wanted to be a pioneer and move people with my work. Last minute about two months before graduation I visited LA for an event with my parents while I was there something hit me and I had a realization that I needed to move to LA after school. I grew up in Chicago, lived in NYC, and the only big city I hadn’t tackled was LA. It seemed like a new challenge and a big opportunity to find my passion and push myself like never before. Two months after graduating I moved to LA – still having no idea which direction I truly wanted to go. Two weeks after moving in with my friend I was scouted and signed by an agency in Malibu. Within that first year I did ecomm for over seven brands, two commercials, and got signed to a major agency in LA, NYC, & Chicago. At the end of the year I decided to expand in a different lane and started YouTube. I loved modeling and had a natural knack for it and I loved being able to represent plus size women doing something I never thought I would ever be able to do.
However, four or five months into modeling I realized there was something missing for me and I wasn’t able to use my voice in the way I wanted. Starting YouTube allowed me to create a platform that was all my own vision, direction, and message. I began to grow very quickly and created a community for curvy and plus size women, where no matter what ‘difference’ you had you felt safe, welcome, & encouraged to love yourself. YouTube has been the icing on the cake for me career wise it makes me feel like I’m truly fulfilling my purpose in life. I’m able to reach people in an authentic way and I’m able to give them hope and be a positive voice that helps to cancel out all the negativity we endure every day from society. I have also really enjoyed public speaking and have been on numerous panels, spoken at high schools & after school programs in the LA area. This allows me to engage in person and for people to feel my energy on a personal level.
I currently have half a million supporters on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. I’m signed for modeling in LA, NYC, & Chicago, I’m signed to a TV Network for YouTube, and have a management team and have agency representation for YouTube as well. I don’t take any of it for granted for a second. I’ve worked extremely hard to build a brand and create content that allows my community to fall in love with themselves and to have a role model that they can always look to. I always say I don’t want my supporters to look at me and think “Wow I wish I could be like her.” I want them to look at me and think “Wow I can be just like that.” I want to provide them with the tools they need to live a better life filled with self-love and self-assurance.
Has it been a smooth road?
My life in general has not been a smooth road. I believe I went through a lot of trauma and many obstacles throughout my early life to lead me to exactly where I am in this moment. I had a great younger childhood but as soon as I hit third grade, I started to get bullied badly for being overweight it got pretty brutal and lasted until the day I left that school in 8th grade. Between sixth and eighth grade it got ugly, horrible things would happen to me at school on a daily basis. I never told anyone including my parents. Which made it much more of an internal battle and there were definitely days I wanted to give up and end it all. Once I graduated middle school, I became a really rough kid due to all the trauma I endured for six consecutive years from the same kids. I became very reckless and eventually got kicked out at 14 and sent to a behavioral boarding school similar to a juvenile delinquent school and was some of the worst years of my life. I never lived with my parents again after 14 and it definitely had a big impact on me. I was so lost as a kid, not knowing there was power in being a leader or that my differences would end up being my superpower. I’m so grateful the universe pushed me to never give up on myself and I think all along deep down I knew I was powerful and that one day that power would manifest into helping others so they didn’t have to feel the way I did as a kid. I constantly have my younger self in the back of my mind with everything I do, she’s truly who I do it for.
My road has been bumpy for sure but there have been so many times that have reassured me it’s all been for the bigger picture. I will never forget when I got signed in LA & NYC for modeling, I had just left the office on Sunset Blvd and got in my car and just lost it. I cried for about 30 minutes just reflecting on all I’d been through to get me to this moment. Some of the only moments to top that are when fans or supporters approach me. After hitting 100k on YouTube and having four or five viral videos I had followers come up to everywhere I went and it hit me so intensely. Having girls ranging from 6-40 approach me and tell me that I helped change their lives and being able to embrace them and connect in real life showed me the power in what I’m doing and why I have to keep going.
Please tell us about your work.
I am a Plus Size Model, YouTuber, & Confidence Activist. I would say I’m most known for my online presence in pushing women to indulge in radical self-love. Whether it’s through fashion in my YouTube hauls where I push my audience to wear what feels right and dismantle the rules society has tried to set for us or my sit-down videos where I discuss the steps to finding self-confidence and how it can change your life. Or through my Instagram posts giving daily reminders of confident energy or my TikTok videos showcasing the barriers you can break through when you only take our own opinion into consideration.
I love modeling and I hope when women see me, they see themselves being represented which I never saw as a young girl because there were very few plus size retailers and even less plus size models. All of my work is equally important to me but my message and what people hear and feel when they see me is prioritized above all to me.
I’m so proud of all of my accomplishments during the last three years of my career it’s hard to pin point one thing I’m most proud of but the first thing that comes to mind is the community I’ve created. I’ve formed a safe space for my followers to come together and not only learn from me but comfort and support one another.
I believe in the industry I’m in my authenticity and true confidence sets me apart. I can’t tell you how often I’m around others models or content creators that promote body positivity or self-love and the moment they’re not in front of the camera it’s a completely different person that’s suffering from the deep insecurity most of our world suffers from. I really believe because I started my self-love journey at such a young age, I’m among a group of about 1-5% of the population that truly, unapologetically, and radically loves myself. Now that doesn’t mean I don’t have days I feel down and fixate on my body but it’s extremely rare because I set hard boundaries with myself. I just don’t go there; I fill my mind with self-affirming thoughts and I believe every part of me is the exact way it’s meant to be inside and outside. That feeling is unmatched it is insanely powerful and if I was like this as a young kid or even in my younger twenties my life would have been substantially different. That’s why I know I’m fulfilling my purpose with the work I do. I believe it’s my unequivocal duty to pass on this feeling and all that I’ve learned.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
So many people have a million and one things to say about LA I’m so glad I never listened to all the negative and decided to create my own reality of LA. LA to me is a city filled with endless opportunity, you may have to not sleep from working so hard but ANYTHING is possible here. That’s a beautiful feeling coming from a city where there are limits to how far you can go especially in creative fields. This city has changed my life and made me a better person and allowed me to create the career of my dreams. So, although I do miss four seasons and the brutal east cost vibes, I can’t say anything bad about LA since this is the city that helped me find myself and my purpose.
Some of my favorite things about LA are the events I go to and the people I meet, the networking opportunities, the weather. The food is AMAZING – I’ve become vegetarian while living here and the healthy options in this city are unmatched. I like the overall vibe of LA and how once you scratch the surface you find that there is a large community that push you to be grounded, indulge in self-exploration, meditation, and health.
My least favorite things about LA is how far from home I am, the toxic ways of certain people that are trying to be something they’re not, and that everything is so spread out and doesn’t always feel like a true city like NYC or Chicago.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.youtube.com/danidmcc
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsdanidmc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Followtheleaderrr/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsdanidmc
Image Credit:
Brandon Hicks, Mike Leddy, ShotsbyAna, Thomas Kirk
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