We recently connected with Tasha Hough and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tasha , thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

From as far back as I could remember, I have always been someone who has been misunderstood. I felt like I needed to be like everyone else, or a VERY muted version of myself in order for people to merely tolerate me or have me around without them actually taking the time to understand who I was at my core, how I viewed the world, my interest etc.

I started harboring onto resentment because of this. I fell into deep depression, not completely because I was misunderstood but surely being misunderstood doesn’t help self esteem so it just added a not so nice, sad cherry on top. When I turned 27 (I’m 33 now) I actually got sick of myself, my surroundings and just overall cosplaying someone or something that I was not. I took the time to learn myself from top to bottom. Let me just say, that was HARD. You would think “being yourself” is the easiest thing to be, and in most regards it is but when you have suppressed yourself to fit into tiny closed minded bubbles, you literally have to relearn YOU. So, that’ s what I did. Journaling, “shadow work”, therapy, paying close attention to how my nervous system felt around people, jobs, activities, etc. played a big part in my shift.

The things that I gravitated towards naturally like writing, creating, TALKING, I started doing more, and enjoying it. I forced myself to post more on social media, not being scared of what people might say and people started telling me they enjoyed what I was doing, complimenting my personality, humor etc. This was all VERY NEW. I started to “lose” friends along the way which I did not/do not enjoy the feeling of but I realize that if I have to be a muted version of myself for the sake of being “friends” with people, or if people only can enjoy me when I’m nourishing them without feeling the need to nourish me, then are they actually my friends? No. I realized that people still didn’t understand me and I was learning to be okay with that because Tasha just being Tasha FELT better than I ever have and have been more aligned with people who took the time to fit me into their world as is. I didn’t have to contort myself to being around.

I say all of this to say, I still feel like people may not understand me but I have learned to push through no matter what. I would not have published two books, began voice acting while currently trying to dab in commercial modeling, started a podcast {Tasha Talks… A lot}, thrown successful events, created a greeting card business {But In Blk Stationery}, by hoping to be understood by people who were dedicated to misunderstanding me. Those people never understood why I was “always writing” to begin with and actually frowned upon it. DO WHAT YOU FEEL IS BEST FOR YOU. If it’s not harming yourself or anyone else, why not? People try to deter you from showing up for yourself because they never were able to. That’s not your business.

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

My name is Tasha. I gave myself the name “Tasha Talks… A lot” actually to make fun of when I was always getting in “trouble” for talking a lot in school, at jobs, and even in relationships LOL. I’m from North Jersey and I have a 10 year old son, Kingsley. I’ve always been a creative person, and enjoying all aspects of the arts. Fell in love with books when I was about four. Something about the words coming to life in my mind was and still is so dope to me. I knew I loved writing very young but especially around age 9 in 4th grade when everyone else moaned and groaned when we had to write book reports at times, and often had to create short stories while I was excited about it. I didn’t understand the big deal. “It’s writing, how could you not love writing” ,I thought. Needless to say I was not a class favorite during those times. I didn’t do much publicly with my interest up until I was around 29 years, because I was too influenced by others doubt and negativity to take the risk on myself.

When I turned 29 I started my podcast “Tasha Talks… A lot” which is a show focusing on mental health, stepping into who you are, and occasionally interviewed people I thought were interesting and wanted to share a story. I think people gravitated towards me because I show love to others but also I am very transparent about things I have been through in hopes that I inspire others. Also some would say I’m funny so that helps : ). I quickly began appearing on other people’s platforms to speak more about mental health, I appeared in a couple music videos from some emerging talented artist, and have even dabbled in acting. I appeared on Appropriate Culture for their holiday special. Becoming an actress, and commercial model are my top five biggest dreams. I have done some voice acting as well but I would love to be on the big screen successfully in this lifetime.

After having two successful networking events Know Your Network with @Rayvyzn and Podcast Linkup NYC with @Ti.Martel, since the pandemic started I unfortunately have not thrown any events again ~yet~ and have taken a break on on podcasting, however I have been pouring my heart into one of my first loves, writing. I published my first book in 2022 titled” I Just Thought You Should Know” (available on Amazon) which is about my journey throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic. I thought it was important to document the story especially since often times people tend to forget to tell what life changing experiences were like for POC but especially Black people. I also have published a book I was working on for a few years titled, “All the Sh*t I Should’ve Sent”. You ever had something on your chest, typed out the message but then out of fear, frustration, or just possibly not thinking it was worth the headache, deleted the message? This book is filled with text threads that have conversations (mostly from myself, but featuring some people that I know) of things we wanted to send but didn’t. On top of writing books, I have started screenwriting. The goal for this year is to create a miniseries of my life based on true events.

My latest baby is my stationery business I launched Christmastime of 2022.. ButInBlkSTNRY.com you will find greeting cards in an honest, familiar, light hearted tone. I find that when I go look for greeting cards, at most stores they’re cute but lets say for instance you really like someone but you don’t want to be sooooo deep in your feelings. I have a greeting card that expresses the love/relationship by simply saying “gotcho ass” with a brown cherub. That was a best seller because it was funny, to the point and expressed what people want to say but have not seen on a greeting card yet. I have the cards year round because love should be expressed on more than the holidays.

I have a dream of cleaning up “urban” neighborhoods and have started an initiative in my city. By cleaning up I mean litter. It is outrageous in most cities I go to and I have a goal of reducing that somehow someway. I think it’s important to have clean environments. When you live in a place that is clean and you have pride in it, you feel better. People go into other areas and think something as simple as a clean street is impossible. They come back home and instead of taking the time to make sure where they are is also clean, they give up or even contribute to the mess. If we all took a moment to make sure in front of our homes/businesses were clean it would make a small difference which could possibly turn into a huge difference. As I always say, “ONLY LOSERS LITTER.” I also have a nonprofit that I’m very slowly starting. It is based on mental health in children. As things are more official I can speak on it more but I do hope people stay along for the journey. It’s not easy but I do believe it is worth it. I think as a whole we should be focused on children’s mental health more than we do. Teaching children how to express their feelings, building self esteem, and teaching them how to be themselves in this world is so crucial but I feel we only focus on it later on in life instead of as a preventive measure because some things we go through were avoidable if we had the right tools mentally.

The main things I want everyone to know about my brand is that authenticity is key. In everything that I do, authenticity is what is driving me and aligning me with love and support I never had before and never thought I could obtain. Being true to myself has opened up even a small lane of courage to do the things that mean a lot to me even when I feel I may be drowning in fear.

I have SO many more things on the horizon and I’m excited for you all to witness/be apart of it all.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Two books that have changed my way of thinking to help me as not only a creative, but a person are: 1) You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero. It is an easy read that is just filled with reminders of why you are a indeed a badass. It personally helped me because I dealt with low self esteem and low confidence all my life. Some people get to turn to friends and family for that boost, others may not have that or need more than that. This book was just the boost I needed in 2016 to activate some of the changes I made positively in my life. That is important for my entrepreneurial thinking because if I do not actually believe I can accomplish something, will I?
2) Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. This also helped with my entrepreneurial thinking because my brand is about authenticity. The book covers vulnerability in ways we don’t often see discussed. It taught me that I could be true to myself, while being vulnerable without feeling silly about it. I’m glad I read this because I don’t feel that I need to have a brand with a character named Tasha, appearing to be a certain way. I can just BE Tasha, as is.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Society can best support artists, creatives, and a thriving creative ecosystem by not being so judgey when people are sharing their gifts. Back to school age, unfortunately in my experience and others, sometimes schools don’t allow you to hone in on your gifts. Of course you’re there to learn about math that you will probably not use outside of school but it should also be a safe space to express creativity. I think society could help by being a little more open to things outside of what they think is the “norm’. We are all different in our own way so why are we also shunned about it.

I think it would also be amazing if people who have “made it” would help others trying to figure it out or who have the ideas but genuinely do not know where to turn even after doing research, Sometimes people “make it” and seemingly forget their struggle or are bitter and want others to struggle because they did. To that I say, “boooooo” I am not saying people should not work for what they want however sometimes it is okay to simply give someone the right direction or tools to also succeed.

Oh one last way society can support is by PAYING US. Stop expecting freebies. You notice the talent, you want the talent, PAY US WHAT WE ARE WORTH.

Contact Info:

• Website: ButInBlkSTNRY.com
• Instagram: TashaTalks_Alot
• Other: tiktok: Tashakeepstalking

Image Credits
Black and White Portraits: @RoseGoldCoze Headshot on stool: @Sirm00re