We recently connected with Tyra Racquel and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Tyra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
The biggest risk I have taken for my writing career is becoming a self publishing author. I want to say around 2018 is the year that I left the publishing company that I was apart of and created my own lane. I was tired of getting told no to the stories that I wanted to write and how I wanted my book covers to look or even when my books would release. I was also tired of being unmotivated so I made the risky decision to continue writing and publishing my books myself. I built the foundation of my company, The Brownie Squad, and I plan to continue to flourish and inspire people to jump at their dreams when they have the chance to before that desire burns out.
Tyra , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
It all started back in 2015 when I attended Alabama State university and I wanted to document my journey throughout college just to be able to see my growth in the years to come. So, I started to do fashion videos, make up videos, and college vlogs. Although I haven’t been consistent with my YouTube channel I can say that I’ve made myself known even though I don’t have that many subscribers. I am still posting monthly and I’m trying to come up with a schedule so that I can grow my YouTube into a bigger platform. I currently post lifestyle vlogs and I post about my books and also book reviews of other books that I read. Another thing that I do is that I write. I’ve been a writer since 2016 and I am releasing my 15th book this summer. How I got into writing is that I started to write my first story on this app called Wattpad and I just seen this ad about getting a book published. So I applied and sent in the first three chapters of my book and they denied me, but then they later reached back out to sign me. I went through some things with that publishing company so I left and I wanted to continue to write so I did and then I ended up signing with another publishing company. As I was writing I noticed that I became unmotivated because I wasn’t being as creative as I knew I could be so from the moment on I decided that I wanted to self publish and really put my all into it. I went out and I bought a custom-made cover, proof read my book myself, and published it. I ended up being number 52 on the top 100 best selling chart, I believe, and from then on I pushed to outdo myself. I am proud to say that I am a three times national best selling author and I won author of the year 2021. One day I am hoping to create a movie or a TV show from one of my books. Lastly, when I went to the Alabama State university, I got a degree in early childhood education so that is why I am now an educator and I am currently in grad school to become a clinical mental health counselor.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish that I knew about more publishing companies and publishing outlets. New authors need as many resources as possible before jumping into the writing industry.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I can honestly say that I have always been myself on social media. These days it is all about aesthetic and even though that is nice just showing who you are on social media would build your following. Now I’m not saying to share all of your business on social media, but don’t try to be like anybody else but you. For example say that Coca-Cola is like trending right now…don’t be that person to get Coca-Cola and have it all down your page knowing that you like Dr Pepper better. That might have not been a good example but I hope that you get it. Be yourself because what’s better than that? Oh, and let’s not forget about consistency.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebrowniesquad.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tyranobanks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoresstyraracquel/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/TyraNoBanks
- Other: Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Tyra-Racquel/e/B071P3WGXR%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tyraracquel Tumblr: https://tyraracquel.tumblr.com/following