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

Tia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Going from idea to execution was a process. However it didn’t have to take as long as I allowed it to. I had the vision for hosting a women’s empowerment event at this amazing 4.5 star hotel in my city. I had no idea how I was going to pull it off. I had no contacts, no idea where to begin, the website for my event wasn’t event finished yet to even show them some sort of proof that I hosted impactful events in the past. Everyone that I saw host events at this hotel has ALL of their ducks in a row so to speak.
I had this dream for about 2 years then one day I say you know what I’m just going to call them and just see. Well needless to say I called they called me back I met with them the following day and the contract was signed that following week.
Often times we fight with ourselves, we fight with trusting our intuition trusting the process and letting go of the outcomes. Sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith and just GO!! The event turned out amazing by the way with close to 200 attendees.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Tia King born and raised in Sacramento California. I’m the oldest of 7. i grew up in extreme poverty and top it off at the age of 13 I lost my father to a car accident, By the age of 16 I was pregnant with my first daughter and had her at 17, 6 months later i was pregnant with my 2nd daughter, by the age of 20 I had my 3rd daughter. at the young age of 20 years old I was a single mother of 3 girls. So here i was on my own in my own place with 3 beautiful babies to care for, i was on food stamps, welfare, section 8 every resource there was i was on it. i was going down a path that i’ve seen played out several time in my community i looked at my babies and saw so much love, purpose, potential and possibilities for their lives and i knew that this pattern was going to stop with me and them.

When my youngest daughter was about 15 months i got my first ‘real’ job as a dispatcher for a shipping company, i remember hoping to make $10.00 per hr i got hired making $9.00 i took the job i was just grateful to be working especially without a high school diploma or a GED at that time ( i later went back and obtained my GED). I worked that job for about 6 years until i was let go.

I had always had a talent for doing hair and throughout the years did the hair of my close friends and family since i was a young girl, so when i got fired from my job i thought hmm maybe i should go to cosmetology school and obtain my license and do hair as a profession, it would allow for me to not have so much of a cap on how much i can make and i also would be able to have more time to spend with my daughters. So that’s exactly what i did.

Fast forward to 2015 i opened up my own hair salon called Elite 82 Hair Studios. I was the first one in my immediate family to open up a business we were all so excited and proud. I quickly realized that i was there for far more than hair, i was giving business advice, parenting advice, relationship advice, self care and self love advice etc. My clients would come in take the knowledge that i’ve acquired throughout the years and apply it to their lives and started to have amazing results.

i decided to venture off into the world of coaching well it actually felt like it was decided for me as the demand was growing more and more from people wanting my advice and help to navigate their lives.

I then started to host small events for women for us to come together share our experiences and network. My first event i held had 14 women, my second one had 100 and it started to grow from there.

I’m a multi faceted coach Mindset, life. law of attraction, branding, and business coach all mixed up in one lol mabe ill create and acronym for my ‘title’ one day. I noticed with mostly everyone I would come into contact with that at the core of everything they were struggling with we could trace it back to their belief system. My clients and i get to the root of what’s holding them back we then together structure a set of personalized practices and beliefs that uproots those untrue beliefs that have been planted in them so that they can start to truly live and thrive in the areas of life that they desire.

Everyone has so much greatness in them, and life sometimes can be a bit challenging to navigate. I’m just a woman who has been very skilled at navigating the challenges of life and just so happen know how to help others create a path take action and as a result they’re able to avoid the pitfalls and achieve success.

My coaching is based on YOU! you are more than enough, YOU are your brand, your authentic self is what sells,your quirkiness, your humor, your passions, your story,,your journey your ‘failures’ and your triumphs they all form the amazing being that you are. Once this clicks with my clients their lives start to soar is so fulfilling to witness the metamorphosis from the caterpillar to the butterfly take place.

i coach remembering my caterpillar days thinking that what i was seeing from that view was all there was, thinking that this is just ‘life’ and that i had to accept what was given to me. I also remember when i realized there was more for me and the day i decided to take a leap of faith and believe in myself and how much broader the view was. When i coach i coach from a place of passion i see a little piece of myself in each client i work with and i know if little ole me can fly they can too.

In my coaching i believe what sets me apart from other is that i’m very transparent and relatable, I dont act as though life doesn’t happen to us all, i dont act as though im above going through things, i share my experiences and assure others that they can make it also. I provide a space where people can be vulnerable, honest and themselves, i’ve established trust with my community and they know i’m going to go above and beyond to provide them with the best knowledge and tools to become successful.

I want my clients to know that they have everything already inside of them, we all do. I want them to know they are already great, they are already successful we don’t have to wait on material things to prove this to us, i want them to know it already inwardly and as soon as they realize this the outer world has no choice but to reflect it, Sometimes we just need help getting it out.

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

In November of 2014 i was being evicted from my place. I was a full time entrepreneur as a licensed cosmetologist and was struggling to pay bills. For the first time in my adult life i had to move back home to my moms. i remember feeling like life was over that i had hit rock bottom. My moms small 2 bedroom home was already crowded with 2 of my other siblings living there with their children it was a total of about 10 of us staying in my mom’s place.

That January of 2015 i started to rent out a station at a barber shop i had maybe 5 loyal clients at the time, i remember saying to myself ‘well Tia all you can do is go up from here’ so i started working diligently everyday i was determined i knew i had no other choice but to make something of myself i had to show my girls that anything was possible. I started to use instagram to show my work by that May of 2015 i was signing the lease to my own Hair salon and had my grand opening that August. I had $3,200 in my account when i signed the lease to my salon but everything ALL came together i went on to have a great career in the hair industry and was able to afford to send ALL 3 of my daughters off to college at a HBCU.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Keeping my word, being on time, giving more in services than i receive from my clients monetarily. It’s so important to have integrity people MUST be able to trust you, they must feel as though you’re not in it just for the money, this isn’t something you can fake, you truly have to have a heart for the betterment of the people you serve.

I overdeliver and always make sure everyone in the spaces I create feel seen not just a number to line my pockets or increase my popularity. People know when you’re genuine you must build trust and that trust takes time to build, be patient and allow relationships to be genuinely built.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: tiajking
• Facebook: tia king
• Youtube: Tia King

Image Credits

Amy Medina photography