We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Saunya Jones . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Saunya below.

Saunya , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I am currently working as an HR manager and I do my business on the side – I do youtube, as well as massage therapy and I am an author also. I remember in college when I was on the dance team, we would post our videos to youtube but I never knew it could be a career path, I just knew I had to get through school and thats all I could focus on. It wasn’t until the year after I graduated I realized my other talents that stemmed from being on the dance team, I could create flyers, and edit music and videos and plan events. If I had somebody else to push me farther into my creativity I could have been more successful. There are so many stories I could have shared in real time with my audience that I now just have to tell as the past tense. I could have documented the journey up until this point and I probably would be where I want to be now if I had started back then, 6 years ago. But I was just focused on surviving. I started doing youtube and working as an author/editor in 2020 during the pandemic and it gave me the chance to find myself in the craft. I love what I do now and I am loving the journey and the process.

Saunya , 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?

My name is Saunya Starr J. & I have been a creative my entire life. I remember when I was 12 or 13 and B2K had an album come out for a movie and I would be up all night in the kitchen dancing like I was in the movie. I loved to draw, I thought I was going to be an architect. In high school I was on the dance team, I did poetry, I sang and I was a cheerleader. When I went off to college I stayed on the dance team in college as well, but I also started doing graphic design. When I graduated from school, I started focusing on writing my books and I now have released 2 childrens books focused on self love and affirmations with poetry, and I have been doing youtube and social media since 2020. I offer creative services as an author / editor and I help others write childrens books as well. I am most proud of the fact that I graduated from foster care and everyone thought that I was going to turn out 1 way but I cam out victorious in a completely different light and became a foster care social worker to help show other youth in care the possibilities. I encouraged them to use their creativity as well to heal and tell their stories. What sets me apart from others is who I am, my story and my journey. All of our stories are unique to us.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal driving my creative journey is to give my legacy something that wasn’t left for me. Lessons, assets etc, the chains I have worked to break through for the generations to come after me to have something different. To share my story with others who connect with it and give them the confidence to do the same, to feel empowered to be free and to be themselves.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I left home when I was 25, after graduating from my foster care program at 24. I realized I had been living the life my family wanted me to live and I wasn’t happy with who I had become and I needed to find myself. So I left and moved to Arizona at 25 with my best friend for 7 months. I fell into a deep depression and I asked God where I was supposed to be and it was revealed to me that I was supposed to be in North Carolina. Even though I didn’t know anybody there, I packed up my car and I drove from Arizona to North carolina and I was homeless for 3 months. In that three months, I worked part time, got on food stamps but eventually found a full time job that I ended up loving and staying at for 4 years, getting back into school, getting my own place and finding my now fiance. Had I not stepped out on faith, who knows where my life would be right now? As a 2 time author, business owner and just overall growing woman, I am finally stable and happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fullylovingyourself.co
• Instagram: lotus.loves__
• Facebook: fully loving yourself
• Linkedin: saunya jones
• Twitter: fullylovingyou
• Youtube: fully loving yourself
• Other: tiktok : fullylovingyourself

Image Credits
Nelisa Norman