Meet Instagram Fitness Badass Massy Arias!

Instagram fitness icon Massy Arias is built like a superhero, but her true strength springs from her plain old, regular-girl, vulnerable, generous heart.

- Jesus Trivino Alarcon

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THE SCENE AT NEW JERSEY’S

Meadowlands Exposition Center is straight out of the celebrity handbook. A long line of hyped-up admirers waits for their chance to meet their idol, anxiously hanging on every word uttered by her from the podium. The last time you saw so many Latinas crying was probably at Aventura’s reunion concert. Yet the scene here has nothing to do with Romeo Santos crooning his way into your heart, old-school style. The person stirring the pot at Latina’s Beauty, Hair & Wellness Expo is a next-gen celebrity: Massy Arias, who has amassed almost two million followers on Instagram with her daily posts about fitness, wellness, and mental health. That’s two million. Ya feel me?

If Arias moves the crowd, it’s equally true that they move her. “At the Expo,” she says, “I met this girl who told me how she was supporting her family because her sister, and parents were going through health issues, and she just came out of a horrible relationship. She started crying to the point where I told her, ‘Listen, you need to write me an email, and I’ll see how I can help.’” Arias herself is weeping as she recounts the exchange—because she understands in her gut what this fan was up against, and knows she can help fortify people in their life struggles. “Every day I get emails from people who I helped through hard times, or who tell me how my story has inspired them to beat depression or use exercise as a way to feel better about themselves.”