We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shoniqua Horton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shoniqua , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think it takes hardship and failures to be successful. I say this because people that really go through things honestly grow through them! It makes people stronger and more powerful, wiser of their own actions and successful. If I was to start a business and for the next 15-20 years it be successful with no problems at all than I will become stagnant and not willing to horizon or grow. Hardships allow us to pivot and grow!!! The main goal is to never give up no matter what. If you fall, get back up. If you fail then go back to the drawing board and start over but never give up.

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.

Yes I can. My name is Shoniqua, I go by Shoniqua_unique. Shoniqua is my first name and to me “unique” is beauty. It describes me well. I am in the beauty industry “Ms.Everything Beauty” is what I’ve been saying for the last couple of years. Lol I am a Beauty Queen and Professional before anything. I am a Runway Model and have been working in this tuff industry since thirteen years old. I took two years off due to my having my second child. I’m a true boy mom. Lol I’m back now and going full speed. I am open to roles movies, plays, fashion shows, branding shows ect. I am also a Professional Tax Preparer. This is my second year of working in this industry. It’s tuff out here lol but I wouldn’t trade it for anything because I love helping people and my clients are the best. I have partnered with Wealth Prodigy and they are wonderful, we are like a family!! What sets me aside from others in the industry is because I’m raw and straightforward. I’m real, I’m not sugarcoating and I am not steering people wrong just to make money off of them. One of my passions is to help people. It’s a must, as a community we have to do better. During the pandemic I started a women’s and children’s shelter “OGA Foundation inc.” 2024 is the takeoff year for funding multiple buildings for the shelter. I have to help!!! I want my followers/fans to know that I won’t ever let them down. I like for them to see the ups and downs so they Will continue to know that they can do it to. I’m just a female from Buffalo, NY with big dreams that will get it done to help everybody around the world.

How’d you meet your business partner?

So… in the beauty industry I have met a lot of partners with networking. Networking on social media, going to different hostings, modeling events ect. I have some people that I did extra roles with years till this day sending me over emails or calls to do different projects with them. The beauty industry is tuff but you have to know how to network and get yourself out there or it won’t work. The Tax industry I got in with Wealth Prodigy because I followed the C.E.O Kyla Brown on Facebook for like two years. Lol we communicated back and forth, comments on status ect. I asked Kyla was she hiring for her Business and she said “No all the positions are filled this year” I didn’t complain at all because I knew the following year I was going to invest and be in there. Lol Once the following pre tax season started I seen that she was hiring, I told her I’m ready. I’m sent my money right away and was ready!!! We had 20+ weeks of training and January 2nd is when we started filling tax returns. Kyla is so helpful and takes pride of her work and business. You can tell she is in it to help others out and like I stated before we are a family. As far as “OGA Foundation Inc.” I called my parents up one day and said I wanted to start a women’s and children’s shelter, they stated that they had discussed it together but never mentioned it to anybody else. We talked, I found all the resources and we got to it. Paid for everything and I am literally just looking for a building now.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When I first started my audience on social media I was on Instagram. So back in the day we use to have “instagram games” where you would share other people’s pages and pictures so people can follow them. Follow for follow or you would ask people to promote you ect. I would play so many instagram games that some people would unfollow me. Lol I didn’t let it bother me though because they clearly wasn’t my followers/fans. I want people to follow me and engage with what I post. Not just have high numbers of followers but no engagement. I like projects and funds not unnecessary followers and watchers. I would say now in 2024 to get your followers up on any social media platform now is to stay consistent. Post 2-3 times a day. Once you stay consistent and focus your following will grow automatically.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/Shoniqua_unique
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Shoniquahorton

Image Credits
Niyaa Sky Tnzagency