We recently connected with Tiana Benjamin and have shared our conversation below.

Tiana , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

This may sound crazy but I love social media. I know a lot of people struggle with their connection to it but for me personally I’ve just always had a genuine appreciation for an organized platform to express myself and connect with not only people I know but people all around the world. I know this may also sound crazy but I love people, I love connecting, engaging and just being social in general. Social media has given me a space to share my favorite memories and look back at them over the years. I’ve always loved that you can show up in your own unique way and you get complete creative control over what it looks and feels like to be on your page.

For me social media combined two major things that I was passionate about and naturally good at and that was expression and connection.

In the process of getting to know myself on a deeper level I started to see that working for any company they capitalize off of your best attributes in order to meet their goals and become more successful. It was at that point when I started to see the true value in my natural skills and gifts. At some point I was just kind of like I can take these same skills, apply them to my own business venture and make myself successful. When I thought about where exactly I wanted to channel those gifts and skills I knew I wanted to work with beauty and lifestyle brands and later on I fell in love with creating content for special events such as weddings, birthdays, networking events etc.

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.

I’m really just a sweet, kind, creative soul with a passion for connecting with people and expressing myself creatively. Over the years I’ve been incredibly inspired by women who have come before me. Watching their success has been a beacon of motivation and hope that if I wholeheartedly believed in myself, shared my gifts with the world and had a relentless work ethic that I could be successful and love the work I do while living a life I loved.

I started off as a content contributor on Urban Outfitter’s social media team. There I really felt in my element and I realized that I could take it a step further and create content outside of work. As someone who has a positive and expressive relationship with social media I ran into so many people who don’t or don’t care to but would like to use it to promote their business, skills or share memories from a major milestone.

I work together with my clients to relieve the burden of knowing what to post, how to edit, what’s trending, or how to make their content feel warm, welcoming and aesthetically pleasing. Where some people may dread the thought of turning a thought into a vision on social media I am super passionate about taking control and being a creative vehicle to bringing visions to life.

I love what I do, I love networking and meeting new people. I love seeing small businesses grow and helping them market themselves to the world. I love capturing all the beautiful moments and milestones in people’s lives and turning them into priceless keepsakes that they can share with their loved ones and always look back on.

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

I was listening to this podcast and they posed the question of “If you were given a human what would you put them through to make them resilient?” The moral of the story was that you probably wouldn’t give them an easy life. When I think about resilience I always think of the saying “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”

I really believe you can’t have a testimony without a test. When I think of the moments in life that have completely broken me I realized later on that they really gave me no choice but to evolve so I could heal, learn, grow and lean on my faith in God to pick myself back up. Even currently as I really got comfortable with my journey, grief has been my most recent test in resilience. You really think you know yourself until you are put in the most unimaginable situations that have the ability to completely break your heart and derail your life.

My true motivation comes from my angels who no longer get the opportunity to get the most out of this life. I’ve seen first hand how fragile life can be and my darkest moments have taught me to not take it for granted. My darkest moments have taught me that even though your loved ones are no longer here that the beauty of their soul still lives within you and they rejoice in your resilience watching you get the absolute most out of life.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Of course. You’ve got to have something to look forward to even if it’s completely shoot for the stars. For me I’m on a mission to one day be a successful television host and or creative director. No matter where my career leads me I just want to be creating and connecting. I’m really confident that the journey I’m on now will lead me to a place where those goals become reality. I’ve always looked up to people like Shonda Rhymes and Tyler Perry and just thinking about one day being in spaces with them or working on projects with them is really what makes everything I do super enjoyable. For now I’m really just embracing my current journey and remaining teachable so that I can turn everything I’m learning into experience that will make me stand out and be the best candidate for those roles one day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ugcworkwithtee.my.canva.site/
• Instagram: @tiana.benjx
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tianazbenjamin/

Image Credits
IShanira Delgado