We were lucky to catch up with Shaniah Loriston recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shaniah, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Toned By Shay was created by a black college student struggling to balance academic, personal and work life. Being faced with so many competing demands did not allow the time to focus on mental and physical health which lead to stress and anxiety as well as low self-esteem. As a freshmen in college, entering adulthood can be very overwhelming and the gym became my mental relief. However, I could no loner find the motivation to go up until I incorporated the two things that I loved together- fashion and fitness. The clothes you wear for your workout is more important than you think, the more intentional you are about what you wear the more impactful your workout can be. Toned By shay’s mission is to help women feel motivated, confident and comfortable in their skin through their activewear thus improving workout performance. Furthermore, in order to reach our goals Toned strives to have a staff made up of University students just like me. Made up of those who may feel overlooked and not given the opportunity in such a saturated industry, we want to build a platform allowing talented individuals to showcase their work through content creation, videography , marketing etc. Our mission is to connect university through a premium brand experience.

Shaniah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am Shaniah Loriston, a current student at the University Of Central Florida majoring in Finance with a Minor in Sports Business and the Owner of a Fitness & Activewear Brand called Toned By Shay. Growing up I was always very involved and had a passion for athletics and physical fitness. Whether it was cheer, dance, football, or weightlifting, anything that kept my body moving I did it and put my 100% it. So although I was not physically in a gym my activity level allowed me to maintain good shape and health. However my real love for fitness came about after I left Highschool, the freshman 15 was definitely real! I no longer had the extracurriculars that kept me in shape so due to decreased physical activity, social events, stress and emotional eating, and increased alcohol intake my body changed in ways It never had before. I did not like this new lifestyle that I lived and spent hours researching to form the best workout plan for me. I didn’t want to just lose the weight I wanted to build muscle and maintain my physique. Once I started seeing the results coming in I fell in love with the process too. I fell in love with challenging myself to become the best version of myself. The gym became my mental relief, an outlet to release the stress of college life. I documented this journey online which began to motivate others as they noticed my transformation. It brought me joy knowing that I was inspiring individuals to change, and improve their health as well, and that is when I knew I wanted to help others reach their fitness goals as well.
Toned By Shay is my personal training business and we are known for our intense and unique training style. Doing the same workouts can get boring and repetitive, but creative workouts keep my clients motivated. I specialize in strength training. Our workouts consist of a mixture of strength: heavy weights, low repetitions and endurance: lighter weights, higher repetitions to build those curves that many of my clients are looking for.
What further motivated me throughout my fitness journey and in the gym is how I felt in what I wore during my workout. The cuter the outfit, the better that it felt and fit the more confidence I exuded. However in order to get more quality sets I had to break my pockets! That is when I decided to create an activewear line with a variety of comfortable and fashionable styles to choose from with the best colors that accentuate all skin tones at an affordable price. I want other women to feel comfortable in their skin and confident in what they’re wearing to the gym thus improving workout performance. Our clothing is designed to be suitable both for exercise and everyday wear especially in the campus setting. The trend of athletic wear being worn in social settings has become the average college student’s uniform because of it’s accessibility and ease. This is why we pride ourselves in providing quality and affordable active wear and athleisure tailored to fit every setting.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Funding your business can be the trickiest part. While there are many resources such as grants, loans, investors etc. it can be hard to obtain them as a new business owner branching out because of the lack of the history to prove trust worthiness. I wouldn’t haven’t been able to start my business if it wasn’t for the financial help during the pandemic. I was out of a job at the time and was fortunate enough to receive unemployment assistance. I knew that this was temporary so I wanted to use the help the government was giving at the time wisely, so I decided after covering all my bills that I was going to invest into my own business and couldn’t be happier with the decision that I made.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I think one of the most important things when running a business is knowing what sets your business apart from others especially through marketing. In order to build my audience I had to ask myself what can I bring to my audience that they may not find anywhere else and how was I going to deliver that? I chose to do this through my marketing style. I sought out a specific target market such as university and took my business to them through University market day’s. Instead of trying to reach a wide audience I am focusing on building my audience locally through Universities in my states, so that people can become more familiar with my brand and I can expand my reach from there. You just have to find what works for you and execute it wisely.

Contact Info:

• Website: Tonedbyshay.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonedbyshay
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonedbyshay
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tonedbyshay
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShaysWay