We had the good fortune of connecting with Tammie Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tammie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I’m typically not one for New Year’s resolutions. But at the top of the year, I took an inventory into my life. I asked myself, “what dream have you been sitting on that you have yet to pursue?” Taking my talent for digital storytelling into the field of Content Creation is the mission that resonated with me.

For years I have created content online. I started out on Blogger in 2011 creating content there, and joined Instagram a few years after to promote my blog posts.

While chronicling my life through my personal style was definitely a passion, it wasn’t paying the bills. Therefore I was simultaneously, earning my Master’s Degree and following my career path into the Mental Health industry.

I am an experiential learner in all facets of my life, including MyAuraStyle. Therefore, while gaining my footing in my day job, I also curated my life experiences and shared them on my social media. Depending on my stage in life, my content extended to cooking, lifestyle and travel genres. The latter to include locations that are international.

Further, I was also inspired by watching other Content Creators build solid careers in an industry that didn’t exist just a few short years ago.

Lastly, after having an interesting experience with a brand, it became increasingly important for me to invest in myself by creating a LLC for MyAuraStyle. This facet can also offer a legitimacy to the work I’m producing. Ownership is key to creating opportunities for MyAuraStyle without restrictions.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As I mentioned before, I am an experiential learner, therefore that is how I connect with my supporters, through my personal experiences.

I begin refining my personal style in my twenties, when I became inspired by how women whom I was associated, dressed.

Also, I’ve realized over the years that creativity doesn’t end or begin with personal style. I also create in the kitchen, about my home and through digital storytelling. So MyAuraStyle is a culmination of these various facets.

I always say, “the fashion is what brings MyAuraStyle’s supporters to the table and the sustenance of my work is what keeps them here.” I have individuals who are still engaged from my Blogger days and I really believe they want to see MyAuraStyle win.

As with other entrepreneurs, I would say fear was my biggest hurdle and I am still working through it with every trip, every photoshoot, every post, every time I reach out to a brand. In this industry, you get a lot of No before Yes and it’s all about how you deal with rejection. I create. I also imagine my success will be like that of an independent artist that got their first mainstream hit record. One might go back and listen to their catalog of music and find out they been popping’ all along. I tell myself that I may not have the success that I want now, and I’m creating a robust body of work for when it happens.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It’s quite amusing that you ask this. I just did a mini series on my Instagram, @my_aura_style about the Bishop Arts District, Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens and Trinity Grove. I’d send them there, but specifically to Trinity Grove. It has a plethora of restaurants from specialty dessert shops to Asian food. Also in East Dallas is the State Fair of Texas. I’d send them there too, depending on the season.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to shout out my loved ones. Thank you for suggesting social media platforms at the beginning of my journey, thank you for helping me find locations that are “aesthetic,” thank you for sliding in my DMs with kind words after a post, thank you for helping me fuss with my wardrobe during a shoot, thank you for driving across the state and enduring Texas heat for content, thank you for every like, save, share and comment. Thank you for congratulating my successes. Thank you for believing in me.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/my_aura_style?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==

Other: TikTok: @my_aura_style tiktok.com/@my_aura_

Image Credits
Kendall Lyons
@cartoodaily1

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