We recently connected with T’Shauna Henry and have shared our conversation below.

Hi T’Shauna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

In the past two years, maybe three, I’ve made significant choices for my career. Back in 2020, I was wanting to retire from retail completely so I can focus on getting and committing to work in the performing arts; but then the pandemic happened. Honestly, thank the stars for it.

In 2021, I left a stable yet steadily slow job as a photographer in a studio since their senior session season was coming to an end and to focus on my business, which was also a photography service, full-time.

Just this year, I left a growing dance company that I was one of the founding members and one of the board of directors of to pursue a dream job that accumulated all my passions of dance, photography, and travel into one.

When I was afraid of leaving my job for the unknown in 2021, I texted a friend who at that time had finally got to work in the film industry and asked him how he felt when he left the food service industry for film. He said everything I’ve been trying to tell myself, and yet it sounded so much more clear when he stated, “it’s a leap of faith”. Funny how trusting your gut, your heart, and even the process can feel and bring you so much.

As of now, it’s been a roller coaster. I’m in the process of keeping my business active and wanting to have a balance of doing photo and video projects. I currently teach dance at a few studios which some classes are hard, others energize me. I’m always auditioning and have some bookings and shows here and there. And I’m getting better at planning my finances and have new gigs and opportunities lined up to where some I had to say no for my mental energy.

As the homie stated, it is a leap of faith. And instead of falling, I’m floating. I don’t think I would want to be or do anything else. I’m so grateful for the things I’ve done, and everything I get to do. I do a lot! And doing the very things I love is the risk worth taking.

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?

Whew, where to start?

Well hi, my name is T’Shauna. I’m a dancer, actress, photographer, and filmmaker based in Atlanta. In short, I say I’m a performer and a producer who wants to be on her Issa Rae/Debbie Allen/Ariana DeBose ish. Being a dancer at heart, movement has always been the motivation to everything I do and pursue hence how and why I got into all the other aforementioned fields.

I have my own business, CreativiTEA MeTea EnterTEAment, which in a single sentence is: a media production company that aims to collaborate with up-and-coming and seasoned artists who are seeking to build their platforms and social empires creatively and professionally. The company at first was a platform I created for myself to showcase my artwork since 2016 and officially it has been an LLC since 2020.

I’m also a witch, for those who don’t know. I specialize in tarot, have my own YouTube channel: Harrow Henrietta, and a podcast on Spotify, TEArot Time with TShayMae, which the latter was formerly a series on Adolescent Content.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Recently, I feel like I had to come back to a place where why did I create CreativiTEA in the first place. After talking about it with my therapist and also with my photography birthday twin, I realized early this year when I stepped away from my business for a bit because of a new job that was sort of taking in place of it, I found how hard it was to get back into the groove of my own schtick.

I came to find, especially in the summer when I was trying to make new developments, that the hiatus from a burn out and especially trying to continue to push discounts, put my business at a halt. It made it discouraging that I wasn’t making much money and even after I updated my domain, policies, and rates that I wasn’t a success.

But I had to realize that CreativiTEA isn’t all about profit, it’s about PASSION. So I’ve decided to plan projects and shoots because I wanted to. I’ve done it before, there’s no harm in coming back to a place that helped build me, my platform, and my portfolio up.

Right now, I’ve conducted a couple of shoots where I’ve put out model and casting calls for people to come forward and if they want to shoot, they can! I also forgot that my company’s mission is to make a connection with creatives. It’ll be cool, but has to be unexpected that they’ll become potential clients, but who’s to say that it isn’t something to hope for.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Like I mentioned in my introduction, I want to be on my Issa Rae, Debbie Allen, and Ariana DeBose ish.

If there isn’t a better way to say that I am not only just self-made but also multifaceted and multi-hyphenated, then I don’t know what to tell you. These women inspire me to pursue my dreams and put out the energy I want to receive.

Let’s take Issa Rae, started up on YouTube, mind you – I did watch Awkward Black Girl when it originally came out – and now sparking deals and has shows on HBO and has an empire of other companies. Miss Debbie Allen is just a force of nature that when I saw clips of her dancing on Fame and as Anita in West Side Story in its first revival back in the early 80s, I was in awe. And Ariana DeBose? That’s sis! To see someone close to my age and similar to my experience and background make the marks she’s been making as of lately, especially THIS YEAR ALONE? I had to shout because that’s how proud and psyched I am.

All of these women can act, most (cause idk about Issa but I’d love to see it) of them primarily dance, they produce, they direct, they write, they own their own shit. I’ve aligned myself to match these women, their career paths, and energies to manifest all the same for myself.

So just like all of them, I’m making my mark, forging my own path, creating and seating my own table for myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.creativittea.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/creativittea
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/creativittea
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tshaunahenry
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tshaymae
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCvAHZH54GXoVLVVrNoIv3dA
• Other: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@creativittea TEArot Time Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3fF5YwayTTGpoGi5xK6vW7?si=PKShSXhLRkqJQu8I5oe2Vw Personal Website: https://creativittea.wixsite.com/tshaymae

Image Credits
Jordan Thompkins, Brenda Lopez, CreativiTEA MeTea EnterTEAment, Sergio Melendez, Robert Mitchell Owneby Photography, Ariane Reina Photography, RG2 Photography, Christopher Curtis..