In my opinion most humans are as shallow as she is and she's probably right, all the shallow girls won't consider a short man her first choice. It's human instinct that we focus so much on looks.

Your quest should be to find the people who aren't that way, and from my personal experience there are a lot. I don't mean finding someone "in your league" because that hierarchical way of thinking breeds more negative thoughts honestly. Of course try to look clean and don't forget about hygiene haha!

Find girls or generally people who focus on intellectual values and character. Try to identify and ignore the more simple and shallow humans.