This artist's 'fat candles,' featuring round bellies, cellulite and stretch marks, were shamed. Here's her response to the haters.

Jodyann Morgan seeks purpose during difficult times. This outlook is a major part of the origin story of the 36-year-old's body-inclusive candle company CTOAN, as it all began during the summer of 2020 when Morgan took on a new craft to "bring a little peace and joy to my life" following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Now, a year and a half after officially debuting her brand and creating seven original candle designs that feature trans-inclusive, gender-free and body-diverse figures, Morgan continues to stay focused on her mission of empowering people with "bodies like mine," she tells Yahoo Life, even after encountering hate on a video celebrating her work.

The vitriol was in response to a trend video that Morgan had posted where she acknowledged critics who tell her to "stop glorifying obesity," as "fattys, queers and POC" find unique joy and representation in the candles that she creates. Over a week after posting the video, she received an onslaught of comments comparing her work to pedophilia and claiming that she's "sending people to an early grave!"

Morgan's wife Chaya Milchtein brought attention to the attack with a thread on Twitter, where she included some of the comments from trolls and shared Morgan's journey in spite of them.

Morgan herself also acknowledged the hate, calling it her "worst nightmare" in a video on TikTok where she also encouraged people to buy a candle in an effort to "prove the haters wrong." On Instagram, she shared that she had "prepared for hate like this," at the onset of her trailblazing brand.

"They are nameless, faceless trolls that hide behind their phones and spew hatred," Morgan tells Yahoo Life of the people who left nasty comments. Fortunately for her, however, "CTOAN has been warmly welcomed by people of all backgrounds and body types, and this instance of trolling is the first we've experienced since our launch in November of 2021."

The positivity that has surrounded Morgan's brand so far can be attributed to the mission statement she has for the brand: "to create fat art that inspires and empowers." She was inspired, she recalls, after posting a photo of the first body candle she had made in June 2021 and realizing that people would respond well to more diverse representation.

"A follower asked me if I could make a fat version," she explains, referring to a comment that read, "I wanna order brown full figured candles." Unsurprisingly, the options for existing shapes were limited. "I had to dig deep to find a mold for a fat candle that really spoke to me."

Morgan was still working full-time in sports and entertainment security and creating candles with only molds that she was able to purchase. Wanting to oblige the request, however, she sought out opportunities to make her own designs.

One month later, in July 2021, Morgan debuted her first iteration of her now signature plus-size candles which feature various shapes with round bellies, back rolls, stretch marks and cellulite.

"It all clicked after that," she says, noting that she quit her job in March 2022, five months after the business officially started. "Since then, I've developed and launched quite a few original designs, filling a gap in the market with candles that celebrate bodies like mine and the people I love."

While select trolls have found reason to shame Morgan's work, she's most focused on the positive effect that it's had.

"The art I make deeply impacts the people who come across it and bring it into their home. If you can find beauty in a wax figure, surely you can find the beauty in yourself," she explains. "CTOAN is about so much more than candles and home decor. It's about being seen. Being celebrated. Being empowered."

If anything, the persistence of fatphobia has encouraged her to double down on using her creativity to challenge weight stigma.

"Wax is just my current medium, but fat bodies should be celebrated in all forms of art and decor," she says. "More importantly, fat people should be given access to health care that sees us as more than our weight, jobs that hire us without considering our size, and a society that sees us as full human beings."

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