We were lucky to catch up with Tierra Davis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tierra, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

To be successful you must first have a vision, a desire and actually start! A lot of us sit on great ideas for too long. With that, add ambition and drive and you have a sure formula for success. Anyone can have a vision or a dream but if they lack the ambition and drive to execute it, then it goes nowhere. You may not know exactly how everything is going to play out or even where to start but you have somewhat of a blueprint and go for it. Success takes a lot of hard work and perseverance, a lot of sleepless nights and sacrifices come with it. You have to be able to keep your mind on the end goal at all times, no matter what is going on around you. To be successful you have to know how to overcome perceived failure, how to get back up every time you feel defeated. It takes resilience. There will be times when you want to give up but that is the only true failure, giving up. So have a vision, believe in it, feel it and go for it. This is what it takes to be successful in my opinion.

Tierra, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Tierra Davis and I am the owner of The Queen of Hookah LLC also known as The Hookah Queens. We provide professional hookah outsourcing and catering services to various clubs and lounges in multiple cities and states. I started my hookah business in Atlanta, as a side hustle back in 2015. Since then, I am very proud to say that I have grown and accomplished a lot. Back in 2018 I moved to Dallas, Texas and I was able to obtain several contracts with different promoters and lounges in the area. The Hookah Queens currently provides hookahs for various clubs, lounges and private events there. Recently, I have expanded my business to my home state, Florida. I currently have a contract with one of Tampa’s hottest night clubs and a few more contracts coming up this summer that I am very excited about. What I am most proud of and I feel sets my company apart from others, is our consistency with our customer service and our knowledge and quality of product. Anyone can make a hookah but the question is, Is it the right way and was it serviced with a smile? I pride myself in this and I am blessed to have a team that matches my desire to provide a quality product and service.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have always considered myself a very resilient person and it has been proven more through business dealings just how true that is. Just like anything in life, there is a lesson and a blessing in every perceived moment of chaos. I found myself learning a very hard lesson about business and contracts or, in my case, lack thereof. I was the official hookah vendor for a popular promoter for two different lounges but only for certain days. After about six months, in a matter of two days, I lost both of those clubs. The first club was parting ways with the promoter and had decided to provide their own hookahs going forward and the second club already had a standing contract with another hookah company that they needed to honor. So ultimately I was pushed out because I didn’t have contracts with the club owner directly. Although discouraged, I had to think quickly as this was my livelihood. I made some phone calls and by the end of the day I had two new actual contracts, at two different lounges, where I was the sole hookah provider for multiple days during the week. So, although I learned the hard way, a valuable lesson about business, there was also a hidden blessing in there that I am still grateful for today. Always have your business in order. To be a boss, you have to be able to think like a boss and level up when the time comes. Never fold under pressure.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Coming from the hospitality industry, I have worked under a lot of different managers, owners and supervisors. In that timeframe I feel that I have picked up on some great management skills. I’ve learned from the best and worst managers how to successfully manage a team. It is very important to speak to your team with respect. Understand that you all work together and that your business can only be ran successfully with a solid team behind you. I’ve learned that you must hold yourself and your team accountable and that any situation can be a learning opportunity. Your team can only be as successful as you set them up for. So when I drop the ball, I have to take accountability for that and the same goes for them. You maintain high morale when your team feels valued, respected and appreciated and when they have what they need to be successful.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @the_hookahqueen_
• Facebook: @thehookahqueen1

Image Credits
Jose Lopez Jr.