Today we’d like to introduce you to Nyah Sneed
Hi Nyah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
OK, so for those who don’t know, I am an actress, entrepreneur and an author. I will first tell you how I got to start with Acting. Ever since I was a small child i’ve always wanted to be an actress. I started taking that interest seriously when I was 15. I had a lot of opportunities to start pursuing it, but life happened and time just went by. When I was 18 going into 19 I started doing background acting just to get a feel and to see what it would be like being on set. Then I started researching Acting classes and started taking classes and just decided to go headfirst into pursuing my acting career.
Now my business. PurposelyNatural is a Ayurvedic inspired hair care brand. I’ve always been natural my whole life. I’ve never had a perm, relaxer, heat damage or anything like that, but I didn’t learn how to do my own hair until I was 15. That’s when I started learning about hair porosity, hair type and how to care for your hair porosity and hair type. I was always into DIY (do it yourself) I was always on YouTube or Google researching DIY hair products and things like that. My mother wanted me to start a business but I really wasn’t interested, people would see my hair and I ask me what do I use on my hair. I would tell them it’s a DIY thing I made and I will try to tell them how to make it and they will always say “just bottle it up and sell it to me”, but I didn’t want to. I will never forget the moment I decided to start my business. In December of 2019 my family and I were staying in a motel six and I just decided I was ready. I told my mother I wanted to start a business and she encouraged it. She helped me, and it just went from there. I read lots of articles and books and I watched a lot of YouTube videos of how to formulate and make shampoos, deep conditioner, etc. I research a lot of herbs a lot of natural oils and also different business entities like a LLC or sole proprietorship and so on. I bought a lot of e-books and courses on marketing and how to market etc, and the rest is history. Now my books.
I never thought I would be a writer, as a child I was never interested in writing. I wanted to be a songwriter as a kid, but I’m not good at writing songs. Outside of that, I never thought about writing. One day I was just doing research on black inventors and I wanted to shine a light on all of the everyday things people use in the world that were invented by Black people, both black men and black women. I felt so many people don’t know about these amazing inventors and I thought it would be great to put it in a children’s book. So that way kids (specifically black kids) can read it and know about all of the amazing things people who look like them invented. Once again I started researching how to write a children’s book, how to format a children’s book, illustrators, how to sell a children’s book, manufacturing a book etc. That’s how I got started with all of my careers.
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. And that’s what I would tell anybody whatever career you choose you have to really really really love it and be dedicated and really want it because it’s going to be hard. People think being an actress is very easy. It’s just auditioning, learning lines and being a camera. That’s not true.
People think being a business owner is very easy and simple. All you do is buy the ingredients make it and start selling and everybody’s gonna buy it. That’s not true.
The challenges and obstacles I faced with was just not believing in myself, but just a lot of financial issues. Not having the finances to really go hard with all of my careers.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What am I most proud of?
I am most proud of the decision I made to follow my dreams…no matter how hard things get.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Yes. As of right now,I have two favorite books.
1. Think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill
2. The four agreements by Miguel Ruiz
Currently I don’t have any favorite apps, blogs or podcasts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/nyahsneed
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyahsneed/
