Tamia Clark

I'd say community, honestly. I would be nothing without the people that see my gifts, because I thought it was for fun, and I was just creating freely and just doing whatever, but someone saw me and sat me down and was like, do you actually know what you're doing? So I would always say community. I owe it all to God and community. When you're able to listen to people, you're able to market them better. I was a psych major, which helped me understand people's minds, and as a licensed cosmetologist, I was really a therapist. Those two things really helped me learn people, and when you know people, you know how to sell to them, or you know how to brand them properly if you listen. I stayed true to myself, and I feel like being aligned with myself and being authentic and transparent is what has gotten me through doors and landed me opportunities like the Walmart campaign.

You're allowed to change your mind. You are allowed to change your mind, but when you do change your mind, stick to it. See it all the way through. Even when things are not going as planned, when you're not getting the volume that you want, the traction that you want, submit to the bid. And I promise you, you are going to see results.

I would encourage her to just remain resilient and stick true to herself, because your work is a representation of you, and so the sooner that you learn yourself and the sooner that you accept yourself, you'll then align with the people who are meant to, who you're meant to service, and who you're meant to be seen by and collaborate with. Don't give up. Bet on yourself. I know everybody's always looking for certain tips and tricks and things like that and technology, but it really comes down to sales. You need to learn how to sell, how to listen to people, because when you're able to listen to people, you're able to market them better.

The biggest challenge in my field is how fast trends change and keeping that aligned with brand identity. Things change pretty quick in the social media world, and so you have to keep up. Keeping brand identity aligned with trends is a challenge sometimes, but we move and adapt.

Authenticity, transparency, and building your capacity for the work that you want to achieve are most important to me. I don't believe women should work hard. I think that we should build our capacity and do more work, but not hard work for women. Being a woman is hard enough. It doesn't have to be hard, necessarily. It just depends on how you frame it. You can do more, you can create more, you can take more, you can learn more. Your work is a representation of you, so the sooner that you learn yourself and accept yourself, the better aligned you'll be with the people you're meant to service and collaborate with.