We were lucky to catch up with Shaqueria Howard recently and have shared our conversation below.

Shaqueria, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

Public relations is a very heavy industry. There are so many shakers and movers in this industry. I remember being in college and most professors and mentors would say “You cannot be in Public Relations with a family, because your clients take over every aspect of your life. They are your family now.” I remember thinking, wow this is a demanding industry – but, I still get to travel and meet celebs so I was willing to sacrifice. However, life came at me hard, I found myself in a serious relationship and pregnant not even one year after graduation. I thought I had to change my plans while I was in the midst of working my way up the ladder of being an entertainment publicist. Little did I know all I had to do was reshape my idea. COVID year really brought things into perspective for me – public relations professionals had to adapt to the social world. And so did I – I offered public relations services on my own time, by offering projects & packages for my clients. Things were slow at first, but as my love for PR grew so did my skills in other areas like social media management, graphic design and brand development. When I started securing clients and talking to my business advisor about my plans – I knew I had the tools I needed to succeed. That feeling of reassurance from my clients, friends and my family was all I needed to take my leap of faith. Honestly, PR is just one of those things I would always win at – I only feel like a winner and confident when I am talking about my business. I am forever grateful and blessed to have family and friends around me that believe in me. There were so many nights of prayer and ideas that finally formed into action and 5 STAH MEDIA LLC was born through that struggle.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hi friends, my name is Shaqueria Howard, most people from high school and college know me as “Tudy”. I graduated from Florida A&M University (Magna Cum Laude) with my Bachelor of Science in Public Relations in 2017. I did some freelance in beauty, sports and entertainment public relations with different agencies. However, in 2020 I created my business 5 STAH MEDIA LLC. We solve the issue of not knowing what to do next in terms of your social media ideas. We found that most people don’t even know what to do next after they purchase their LLC and they have no clue how to create an effective and alluring social media account. That’s where we come in. We help small business owners with social media management, public relations, graphic design services and brand development.

The biggest thing that sets me apart from the competition is that I am genuine – I am willing to go above and beyond for my clients because I have a love and passion for my field. Also, I don’t mind sharing my knowledge and tools with others – because no one can do what I do. I am most proud of the success I have seen from my business these past two years. Main thing to know is that we offer services for first time business owners that need assistance with their online presence. We dedicate time to understand your Brand and connect you to your audience.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

This is a great question! So I started out offering services as a sole proprietor and I had a PayPal account that stored all of my funds from my clients. However, PayPal was TAXIN’! So I had to come up with a quick plan – my first two clients landed me about $150. I took that money and opened a business bank account with a local credit union. With that, I was able to set up my electronic transfer methods of payment with my business account. After that it was smooth sailing – I secured more and more clients. Most importantly though, the retainer clients are what got me to where I could buy big ticketed items, such as my first desktop computer and my podcasting tools.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My social media audience was built organically. The best thing to do is to follow some local chambers and memberships in your community and engage with those people that can benefit from your services. My client, Chelse Collins (www.theonebeautylounge.com) taught me this social media hack. When you find an account you want to engage with: like two or three photos, and make one comment on their posts. Most likely – folks will return the favor and like your comment or browse on your page! Engagement is an important tool to build a bigger social media audience. Even having an influencer or popular person in your city repost your content will help too! You would be surprised too how much your family, friends and even church members would be happy to repost your content for you. Don’t be afraid to ask and get them engaged under your posts!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.5stahmedia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/5stahmedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/5stahmedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaqueria-howard-7aaa21115/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/5stahmediallc
• Other: https://www.linktr.ee/5stahmedia/?fbclid=PAAaYzQtMsl8_m-Vq3O_wepVnvVGRkYcgHvg-nzwaofuQEUkMyZavz3jkM_1Q

Image Credits
https://instagram.com/themodelfactory__?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=