Dr Katia Arroyo doesn’t consider in shrinking. Not in physique, not in voice, and definitely not in goal. However earlier than we get into her story, we have now to share only a bit extra about this sequence and its significance!
The Curvy Boss Highlight is a storytelling function sequence devoted to amplifying plus dimension professionals whose work deserves recognition. From psychologists and educators to founders, executives, and creatives, this ongoing sequence facilities experience, management, and lived expertise, highlighting the various methods plus dimension individuals are shaping industries past vogue and social media.
Every highlight goes deeper than a spotlight reel, providing a quote-forward, narrative take a look at how these leaders present up, take up house, and redefine success on their very own phrases.
Curvy Boss Highlight on Dr Katia Arroyo
A psychologist, trauma-informed educator, and founding father of Reflection Psychology and The Relational Trauma Therapist, Dr Katia Arroyo Carrion has constructed her work round presence, embodiment, and nervous system security. Her method to therapeutic is grounded, accessible, and deeply human, particularly for individuals who have been traditionally neglected in conventional psychological well being areas.
This Curvy Boss Highlight facilities plus dimension professionals whose work deserves recognition, from educators and executives to founders and creatives shaping their fields. And Dr Katia Arroyo’s work does precisely that, reshaping what authority, professionalism, and management can appear to be.
Displaying Up With out Shrinking
For Dr Katia Arroyo, exhibiting up begins lengthy earlier than she enters a remedy session or hits “publish” on instructional content material. Her days are deliberately paced, designed to assist regulation and presence.
“A typical day for me is a steadiness between construction and attunement,” she shares. “My work as a psychologist requires presence, regulation, and deep listening, so I’m intentional about how I transfer via my day.”
She begins by grounding herself, checking in along with her physique, and setting clear inner boundaries round how a lot vitality she offers and the place. That intentionality extends into how she understands confidence itself.
“Displaying up isn’t about performing confidence,” she explains. “It’s about inhabiting my house totally.”
As a curvy Latina lady in skilled areas, that embodiment has required unlearning deeply ingrained messages about taking on much less room.
“Proudly owning my house has meant unlearning the concept I must take up much less room bodily, emotionally, or intellectually,” she says. “I enable myself to be seen with out over-explaining or shrinking.”
Whether or not she is within the remedy room or transferring via the world, her presence is rooted in self-trust relatively than approval, a shift she describes as each grounding and liberating.
Redefining Professionalism on Her Personal Phrases
One of the persistent challenges Dr Katia Arroyo has confronted is the slim and sometimes unstated expectation of what professionalism is meant to appear to be.
“As a plus dimension, curvy Latina lady, I used to be straight and not directly informed that I wouldn’t achieve success or taken critically until I match a slim, Barbie-like picture,” she shares.
Early in her profession, that strain confirmed up all over the place, from how she dressed to how a lot house she allowed herself to occupy.
“There was strain to shrink myself bodily, stylistically, and emotionally in an effort to be perceived as credible,” she says.
Over time, she realized that conformity was not solely unsustainable, it was incompatible with the work she wished to do.
“The work I do requires authenticity, presence, and belief, not aesthetic sameness,” Dr Katia Arroyo explains. “I leaned into my experience, my cultural id, and my lived expertise, and I allowed my visibility to be a part of the work relatively than one thing to cover.”
At the moment, what as soon as felt like a barrier has develop into a degree of connection and power.
“Displaying up totally and unapologetically turned an act of each self-respect and resistance,” she says. “My distinction permits me to attach deeply, problem outdated norms, and create areas the place others really feel seen, protected, and represented.”
Illustration as Authority, Not Simply Visibility
For a lot of her life and profession, Dr Katia Arroyo didn’t see herself mirrored within the areas she aspired to enter.
“Illustration for plus dimension girls was both absent or extraordinarily slim,” she explains. “Visibility existed, however it was typically restricted to fashions or creators, and infrequently prolonged into skilled or scientific areas.”
She didn’t typically see plus dimension Latina girls being publicly trusted as consultants, educators, or leaders. That absence formed her understanding of what illustration might and will imply.
“For me, illustration means being seen not simply as a physique, however as a voice, knowledgeable, and a supply of information,” she says.
Her visibility as a psychologist is deeply intentional. It’s about increasing the narrative of who will get to carry authority and be revered.
“I wished to assist widen the narrative,” she shares, “to indicate that plus dimension girls could be trusted consultants, leaders, and healers, not simply aesthetic symbols.”
Making Psychological Well being Extra Accessible and Human
Dr Katia Arroyo’s platform is rooted in accessibility. By way of Instagram and increasing into TikTok, she focuses on making psychological training really feel much less intimidating and extra relatable.
“My purpose is to assist folks perceive their experiences with out disgrace,” she says, “particularly those that have traditionally felt unseen or misunderstood in psychological well being areas.”
She shares trauma-informed training concerning the nervous system, emotional regulation, and physique belief in ways in which really feel grounded and human. That very same dedication to entry is guiding her subsequent tasks.
“I’m creating a membership-based house designed for individuals who might not have the ability to take part in remedy as a consequence of monetary, cultural, or logistical obstacles,” she explains. “It can provide assets and guided content material folks can interact with at their very own tempo and at a extra accessible price.”
On the core of this work is a perception that therapeutic shouldn’t be unique.
“Inspiring others is about widening entry and illustration,” she says. “Psychological well being assist doesn’t must look a method.”
Model That Helps Presence
In the case of skilled model, Dr Katia Arroyo approaches it the identical method she approaches therapeutic: with intention.
“Skilled model begins with consolation and match, not tendencies,” she says. “When clothes suits your physique effectively, it means that you can be current relatively than distracted or self-conscious.”
Tailoring, she notes, is without doubt one of the most underrated instruments for plus dimension professionals. She additionally prioritizes steadiness, pairing structured items with softer materials to really feel each polished and grounded.
“Letting go of the concept skilled clothes has to cover my physique was an enormous shift,” she shares. “After I gown in a method that aligns with how I wish to really feel, grounded, succesful, and visual, it reveals in how I carry myself.”
Her philosophy is straightforward however highly effective.
“One of the best model hack is carrying garments that assist your presence, not compete with it.”
What’s Subsequent for Dr Katia Arroyo
Wanting forward, Dr Katia Arroyo is concentrated on deepening affect relatively than increasing for enlargement’s sake. Alongside rising her instructional platforms, she is exploring the connection between trauma, embodiment, and vogue.
“How we inhabit our our bodies, how we gown them, and the way seen we enable ourselves to be are deeply linked to security, self-trust, and therapeutic,” she explains.
Trend, for her, turns into one other pathway again to the physique, one other method to take up house with intention.
She describes herself in three phrases: quirky, grounded, embodied. And when she celebrates a win, she does so quietly, spending time with household, pals, and pets.
If she might host a dream dinner, Frida Kahlo can be on the desk with out query. Kahlo’s relationship with ache, id, and self-expression continues to resonate deeply with Dr Katia Arroyo’s personal work round embodiment and visibility.
A Ultimate Phrase
Her recommendation for anybody moving into their goal is evident and compassionate.
“Don’t wait till you are feeling totally assured to take up house,” she says. “Readability and confidence typically come after you start.”
“You don’t must shrink, over-explain, or appear to be what’s already been accepted to belong,” she provides. “While you present up aligned with who you’re, you create house for others to do the identical.”
Wish to be featured subsequent?
Know a plus dimension skilled doing highly effective work or are you one your self? The Curvy Boss Highlight is all the time open to founders, executives, educators, clinicians, creatives, and leaders throughout industries who’re constructing, main, and influencing with intention. In case your work facilities affect, innovation, and illustration, we wish to hear your story.
Along with the Curvy Boss Highlight, The Curvy Fashionista additionally options devoted spotlights for plus dimension influencers and creators in addition to plus dimension fashions, as a result of illustration issues throughout each lane. Whether or not you’re shaping tradition, creating content material, or exhibiting up visibly in entrance of the digital camera, there’s house to your story right here.
