Today, we’d like to introduce you to Tonia Thomas.
Hi Tonia, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Well, as a little girl, I always encouraged others and loved color and bright colors, and I would buy things just because of the color. I used color to get away from everyday issues and found myself encouraging myself because I felt alone even though there was family around me and always kept to myself for the most part because I didn’t have many friends. I grew up being the black sheep of the family because I was different and I felt it.
I always told myself that I was never going to accept or do the things that I saw or experienced in my life. I always dreamed of becoming and owning my own business but really never put too much thought into it until one day back in 2017, I was let go from my job working at home and decided to start a t-shirt business called Evolved By Faith. I had no idea what I was doing but I put all my trust in God to help me through it.
Evolved By Faith then turned into Toni Lee’s Shop because I wanted to start selling clothes for plus size women like myself but it did not work out after one year and only because I was expecting it to prosper my way instead of God’s way. One day I had this dream to start a business for nail decals, rhinestones, and things like that for nails so I started doing research and came up with the name Shyneeknobs.
I was sitting in my living room one day watching a movie and I literally heard this voice say Shyneeknobs is not going to be what you think, change it to nail polish. One can only imagine to themself what was that I thought lol Right, well I heard it again and said to myself nail polish, why nail polish because I have no idea what to do so I asked God was that you and if it is then guide me, this was just the beginning of Shyneeknobs Nail Polish.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it has not been a smooth road nothing is so what do you do, you ask God to continue to guide you as you put your trust in him, believe him through his word, and if nothing else don’t give up no matter what. I can remember being told not to start this business by someone I thought wanted me to succeed and them saying that to me pushed me even more to shine my light.
I thought it would be hard to come up with the names for each polish as I was doing my research on how to make the polish which took me 2 years to figure it out and how to do it my way. I would look at other nail polish companies to see what they are naming their polish and decided no that is not what I want to call my polish.
So what did I do I went to God and he told me to be who I am and use my life and the things I experienced and went through and how he helped me find myself again because I lost who I was because I was inspiring, encouraging, and motivating others and not myself, I wasn’t present for Tonia, I lost her. The name for each Polish comes from life and how God presented who Tonia is to me…. like reintroducing you to yourself and knowing who you really are.
As you know, we’re big fans of Shyneeknobs Vegan Nail Polish. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Shyneeknobs Nail Polish is a black woman–owned independent company. We are a cruelty-free, non-toxic, vegan, 10-free, kid-safe, Leaping Bunny Certified Nail Polish Company. We are a nail polish company that inspires, empowers, encourages, and motivates women and girls to embrace the bad with the good and always find that positive in any negative situation and focus on the one positive thing that they can see in the negativity and keep moving forward.
We also have a PrincessKnobs Nail Polish Line for our girls as well. ShyneeKnobs Nail Polish has also incorporated handmade notebooks and journals for our women and girls to focus on every day because we believe that seeing it is to say it, saying it is to believe it, believing it is to know it and to know it is to grow in it.
Remember, your hands have a story behind them so when you look at your hands/nails what do you see, is it a reminder of the things that you went through, the things you thought you wanted but did not receive, helping others in the time of their needs, the many times you had to wipe away your tears in private.
Shyneeknobs not only understands but we are You and we lived it and still live it but the difference is that we live through color, the color of our nails. Once you place Shyneeknobs Nail Polish on your nails you realize you are more than what you went through.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me is when you finally realize who you are in spirit, in God’s eyes, in your eyes. Not the eyes of others because people can hold you hostage of who you really are and what you can do.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shyneeknobs.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shyneeknobs/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shyneeknobs/
