We recently connected with Shatara Clark and have shared our conversation below.

Shatara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

So, TyTalks, my baby and my first love begin one day when I realized I was just exhausted. I had been through a ton of personal trauma within a short time span, and the result was ill decision after ill decision. One morning I woke up and I was just tired, tired of making those decisions, and I told God I was tired. From that day forward I decided I was not doing it anymore. So I started to make powerful social media posts, to not only empower others but to encourage myself. I would make a post and then hashtag them TyTalks. It caught on pretty fast. After that, I birthed a blog, by the same name, established a Bible Study, and begin having empowerment events. Now, none of this happened overnight, but over the course of several years.

I knew I wanted to continue to empower and help women, so I developed a theme for TyTalks: Because Silence Became Too Loud. From there, I decided to establish TyTalks as a 501c3 Non-Profit, and the rest has been an amazing ride. We offer networking functions, fellowship, book studies, accountability groups, work-shop learning opportunities, and more all with the goal of developing and empowering the whole woman.

Shatara, 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?

TyTalks honestly developed from social media statuses that were honest and said the things that people will not say. I still make posts like that until this day. I know social media is a space to create whatever life you desire people to think you have, but I try to make posts that are relatable and sometimes even funny. When I started to see how many women felt the same way I did about many things, I knew there was an audience there that I could reach. It was amazing to discover that. By being a non-profit, we now can collect donations, and even apply for grants to provide donation-only or no-cost events for women.

So many people need encouragement or to learn a new skill that they may not be able to afford. TyTalks can provide that for them, and honestly, some of them just need to be around positive people. Our fellowship opportunities provide that. There are some groups that develop more of a cult following with the same people each time, but I like to provide versatile events that attract a different audience each time and therefore build a community of women from many different walks of life. I think I am most proud of my growth. I used to get so discouraged when only a few women came to events, or sign-up was slow, but now I understand how to market TyTalks, and I actually have a website to target my audience and keep them up to date. I had to mature my business if I wanted to see it grow. I am proud of that.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Well, I guess I kind of cheated, because again my audience came because of social media. By knowing that these women could relate to me, I was more than confident about creating that TyTalks page. I quickly invited people to follow and started posting inspiration there. I also always posted what we were doing and images from the event. I begin going to networking events and becoming acquainted with others and then adding them on social media. I joined groups that included women in similar roles, added them as friends, and then invited them to follow my page as well. Currently, my social media could be a bit bigger, but those participating and interacting with me prove that I am reaching people. I say all of that to say, no matter how small your following is, if all of them are following you and interacting, that’s still great.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Honestly, I think by following through. A lot of times people say they want to empower women, they want to be consistent with events and things, but they are not. They may start it, but when the participation or funds become low, they simply stop. I think my consistency with having events, and my ability to show proof of this helps with my market being able to trust me. They know if I post it, it’s going to happen and when it happens I will do all I can to make it successful, plus I even follow through on promises after the fact. We also help women and families in need and collect donations for them along with bill pay programs for those who may be at risk of disconnections. My goal is to build a trusting relationship and community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tytalks2empower.org
• Instagram: mstytalks
• Facebook: TyTalks
• Linkedin: Shatara S. Clark