Today we’d like to introduce you to Maya Thomas.
Hi Maya, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Oxnard, California. My father was killed in a drunk driving accident when I was only four years old. A few years later, my mom moved us back to Louisiana where her parents and our extended family are from. The town we lived in, Doyline, LA, was SUPER small and WAY different than Cali life. Doyline was technically a “village” by population, but to be such a small place, it is where I learned most of my life lessons and values that get me through life today. After I graduated high school (and skipped out on a full scholarship to Dillard University) a few years passed and life started to hit me hard because of the choices I was making. In 2005 I had my first child (My son Jordyn).
By 2010, I was pregnant with my daughter (Londyn) and was diagnosed with a heart condition called (MVP) Mitral Valve Prolapse. I ended up moving to Dallas, TX to try to get my life back in order… this is where it all started. I landed a call-center job with an mlm company and began to study Project Management. After obtaining my CAPM certification, I began to work my way up in the “Corporate World”. Small-town Maya was finally making big-time bucks!… buuuut I wasn’t happy. I always had a burning internal desire to be self-employed. I tried many things, including cosmetology, selling handbags, multiple mlm opportunities, and so much more. For years, I jumped back and forth between Corporate America and self-employment endeavors. In 2018, I began to slowly invest in equipment to start my own t-shirt business but continued to work full time.
In March of 2020, when the Pandemic hit, I was working as a licensed cosmetologist in a Salon in North Dallas called Hands of Glory and operating my t-shirt business on the side. After the initial shut down of businesses, shortly, salons were cleared to open back up, but with my heart condition, I didn’t feel safe going back so soon. So I began to invest all my time and efforts into building my custom apparel and crafts business so that I could safely work from home and assist my kids with online classes. I legally-established my business, invested in new equipment, converted my extra room into a home office, and focused on building and expanding my brand. This is when Touched By Maya T LLC began to take its name. I contribute all of my success to the leader of my life… God/Jesus Christ… without his grace and mercy none of this would be possible.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has absolutely not been a smooth road. I have had to take a “learn as you go” approach because there is no blueprint to success. It has been EXTREMELY difficult to be a single mother assisting kids through online learning while also being the owner and primary operator of a business full time. I have to wear many hats at once juggling purchasing, marketing, manufacturing, shipping, website creation and maintenance, product photography, taxes and legal needs, as well as still being a mother to both of my children, who are now 16 and 10 years old. Home-schooling the kids through the past year was very difficult to juggle while maintaining the business full-time.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Touched By Maya T LLC is a custom apparel and crafts boutique that operates primarily from online sales. Some of my apparel services include Heat Press/vinyl application, Sublimation, and Embroidery. I handle small personal orders like custom shirts, masks, towels, and bags for birthdays, memorial services, and gifting ideas, as well as large-scale orders like family reunion shirts and branding packages for large corporations, just to name a few. One of my primary websites is www.shoptouchedbymayat.com and I also take custom orders directly through in-person, pop-up events, phone, and email. I put my heart into EVERY order to ensure my clients are receiving the highest quality products they deserve. There are a TON of custom apparel businesses out there…but my products are “Touched By Maya T” with love!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I do think that finding a mentor is a huge help in any endeavor that you tackle these days. It is always nice to have someone that is more experienced and knowledgeable than you are, to teach you the ropes. But I must be honest, that is hard to come by these days. My suggestion is to do your research, never stop reading, learning and growing. I have found tons of help through Facebook groups that are centered around whatever topic it is that I am researching. Joining those groups, asking questions, watching videos, reading and learning from other people’s experiences is huge. A lot of the skills and services I offer have been self-taught through online research and trial and error. I would love to find a dedicated mentor, but at this point, I also do my part to mentor those I see coming up under me!
Contact Info:
- Email: touchedbymayat@gmail.com
- Website: shoptouchedbymayat.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/touchedbymayat
- Facebook: facebook.com/touchedbymayat
Image Credits:
IG @swiftshots214
