When Stef Sanjati appears on your computer, you can always count on her signature greeting of, “Hello, little buns.” From there, it’s all about candid honesty and radical vulnerability for the bubbly YouTube star — and she wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, Sanjati has made it her goal to become the unfiltered example she needed growing up in a small Canadian town as an anything-but-ordinary child. Now, the beauty lover and activist is allowing those who look and feel like her to know they not alone. As cliché as it might sound, Sanjati says it’s the exact message she wishes she had when she was younger.
Sanjati is a transgender woman who lives with Waardenburg syndrome, a condition which causes her to have unique facial features, hearing loss, and pigmentation loss in her hair, skin, and eyes. The true definition of an open book, she doesn’t shy away from sharing her most intimate experiences with both of these oft misunderstood identities. From makeup tutorials specifically created for transgender women to documenting her experience with laser hair removal to discussing how her “different” facial features challenge conventional beauty standards, Sanjati gives a raw look at how beauty impacts her life.
Sanjati’s YouTube channel boasts over 560,000 subscribers and her Instagram @stef.sanjati has over 178,000 followers — all of whom she affectionately calls the #BreadSquad. The name comes from her unabashed love of carbs, which rivals her adoration of her dedicated viewers. For three years, the #BreadSquad has watched Sanjati make videos throughout her transition that are both niche and universal. Throughout it all, Sanjati uses her experiences as a way to educate and spread awareness, all while simply being her truest self.
Below Sanjati describes how she uses her life as a window into misunderstood identities and experiences, and how complicated it can be to be someone's role model.
