Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nay Marie. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nay, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The totality of my work is an ongoing meaningful project – my purpose is to help my global community achieve their intentions and desires – but a segment of my artistry that swells my heart is creating adornments for people living with alopecia.

As a woman, I understand the societal pressure we receive regarding our crowns. We are encouraged to have hair that is long and, most often, straight. Women dealing with hair loss due to alopecia, eczema, thinning, stress, etc. are rarely considered and often mocked.

My mannequins are intentionally bald so my clients with bald heads can see exactly how adornments such as crowns, ear chains, nose chains, and ear cuffs could possibly accent their aesthetic.

Baldie advocate Nell Coleman reached out to me to conduct a giveaway of a crown for her bald queens with alopecia. She chose a winner, Monica Hughes Murphy (@m_m_fitness), but also asked if it were ok to choose 2 winners, the second winner was a young princess by the name of Lily (@su.per.lily).

It was an honor to adorn both of their bald crowns with jewels that made them feel like royalty. Monica has purchased several custom crowns and left a glowing review stating, “This has to be the most beautiful and unique handmade jewelry I have ever seen or worn. I am absolutely blown away, I feel like a goddess wearing it! It looks amazing on my baldie. It’s so nice to have other options besides wearing scarves and hats. Thank you so much!”

Helping these 2 beautiful souls feel on the outside as wonderful as they are on the inside inspired me to continue creating with this special group of souls in mind.

Nay, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Adorned In Taji creates adornments that enhance your personal power, aiding your Spirit to manifest your intentions, and supplies you with healing, alter, and ritual tools to live your best life. Our pieces are intuitively designed and carefully handcrafted with nature’s raw materials, including ethical gemstones, cowrie, metals, and wood while our supplies are sustainably sourced from mostly family-run businesses around the globe.

Taji means Crown in Kiswahili. The divine aesthetic that makes Adorned In Taji pieces so recognizable is channeled from a place long-known, a place where the royal blood flowing through our veins was honored and revered. A place of love.

Adorned In Taji came to be when Certified Crystal Healer, Healing Arts Jeweler, and multifaceted Creative, NayMarie, sought alternative methods to help heal, uplift, and empower her community.

Personal Statement:
I’m passionate about healing physical ailments and mental blocks. While I support modern medicine to analyze what could need help and even to fix emergency damage (broken bones, deep wounds, impalements, etc) we’re well aware that it’s not suitable for long-term care.

I believe in preventative care vs reactionary care. Most of us come out of the Womb with hidden trauma, both mental and physical, that’s carried in our DNA.

My goal is to heal current conditions while preventing future trauma, especially those that plague our community.

Healing starts with your mind. It’s proven that two people suffering from the same condition who receive the same exact treatment can experience two different outcomes based on whether they believe they’ll recover or if they feel helpless. We know all of the stories about folks who were told they could never again walk, talk, use their hands, etc but their mindset and determination obliterated those diagnoses.

My eczema was so bad – literally from my face to my feet – that my doctor thought I would need steroids just to be functional enough to work (even though they also knew the steroids were making my condition worse).

With the help of my husband and some great healers, I changed my lifestyle. A clean diet to heal/support my body with nutrients, physical activity to keep my muscles and organs from getting stagnant, and adjusting my mental and physical vibrations with Crystal healing and herbs.

I initially loved crystals (before I knew their benefits) because I always gravitated toward pretty rocks. I had collected a few just because I was drawn to them. Later I discovered my first babies were exactly what I needed in my healing journey. Tigers Eye, Citrine, and Carnelian to heal issues with my skin, digestive tract, and Womb (they also bring focus, prosperity, and creativity which was perfect) and Amethyst to ease my mind and work on unresolved traumas.

The deeper I dove into Crystal work, the more I saw how my thoughts created my reality. If I had negative thoughts, I had a negative day. I could also instantly turn that around with a perspective switch.

I found that keeping certain crystals near me while executing certain tasks amplified my vibration and aided me towards completion.

I went further and started placing crystals on my body to intensify my healing intentions or under my pillow while I slept which stopped my over-active dreams and reduced my insomnia. I was waking up feeling rested.

When I started creating Crystal jewelry, I would have clients come back to me with wonderful stories about how their lives felt lighter, they were in more control of their thoughts and emotions, and how they now use their adornments for their daily manifestations.

This is why what I do is so important to me. I want to see us all win. We deserve it.

Nay developed a passion for adorning Royals in treasures from the Earth. Seeing the instant confidence boost and hearing her clients say that they felt like royalty while watching the way they finessed a mirror or an Instagram video literally swelled her heart and reinforced that she is here to be a catalyst in the prosperity of those in her tribe.

Plus they kept coming back and asking for more, so Nay continued to create and officially launched Adorned In Taji in June 2019. “I was introduced to creating jewelry when I aimed to help my Mom launch her business. She went down another path, but I never looked back.”

Nay is most proud of how our Royals have used their Adornments to better their lives. At minimum, when they get Adorned In Taji, there is a confidence boost that they carry with them throughout the day. At their peak, they are making conscious changes for the betterment of their lives.

One thing that sets Adorned In Taji apart is that our mannequin, Shanta Thonga, is bald so she helps our Bald Royals and those living with Alopecia know that the Adornments they’re eyeing will indeed accentuate their beauty. They get to feel seen and celebrated.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Shine a light on the growing artists. There are tons of artists who may be in similar lanes, but oftentimes do things that are unique to them and their experiences.

We can spread wealth as a global community. Highlight and uplift your faves as well as spotlight other artists whose work makes you feel something.

We know there are tons of ways to support. Your dollars are definitely an important tool for artists to sustain themselves and continue to provide you with their gifts that you love, but you can also share their content, engage with their content, and give them a helping hand when needed to get them to the next level of their careers.

I’ve had clients (thankfully) tell me when something wasn’t working. Specifically, someone informed me that 1 small thing with my website prevented them from using ApplePay/GooglePay. I ticked a button that fixed the issue and had a slew of sales follow using that feature. But what about the people who saw that it wasn’t working before that person told me? Did they use other methods or did they abandon shopping with me?

As a community, we should want to help each other grow and live our best lives. Adjust each others’ Crowns.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn being a perfectionist. My personality is hard-programmed for everything to be in place. I’m huge on aesthetics and WAS big on making sure everything was in its place. I had to learn to loosen the reigns. Aiming to make everything perfect (which is subjective anyway) creates stress that builds tension in our bodies and could physically manifest into ailments.

I had to let that sucker go. There are obviously times when I aim to have things exactly as I envision them but then there are others when I allow Spirit to guide me and discover/learn something new.

Releasing having to control every element and ensuring everything is as I’d like it creatively made it easier to align with the ebbs and flows of life – ultimately making life more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://adornedintaji.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/adornedintaji
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@adornedintaji

Image Credits
Photo 1: Funmi Okusi by NayMarie Photo 2: Jamie B By Will Focus Photo 3: Honey Scarlett by Will Focus Photo 4: Daniel Jones by Will Focus Photo 5: Naomi by Will Focus Photo 6: Queen Coco by NayMarie Photo 7: Monica Hughes Murphy Photo 8: Lily