Today we’d like to introduce you to Lea Toshiye.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
It’s interesting to say “where I am today” as if I’m really somewhere I’ve always dreamed of. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful and I’ve come a VERY long way but I have big dreams so, in my eyes, I am just getting started! I always followed the rules and did what society told me to do. I made straight A’s, I worked, I went to college, got a degree, graduated early, and got an “adult” job. After spending 23 years of my life doing what everyone told me to do, I realized I wasn’t happy. And frankly, I was mad that I did everything right and was getting nothing out of it. I spent the next five years really going through it. I was trying to find myself, trying to reinvent myself, and playing tug-a-war between traditionalism, rule following, and what I “SHOULD” do with my life according to everyone else and throwing all the rules out the window, telling society to shove it, and doing what I WANTED to do no matter what people thought even if it wasn’t the “norm.”
I had always wanted to start a YouTube channel and be in the beauty industry but I never had the courage. I thought people would judge me, make fun of me, or question ME doing beauty because I wasn’t a makeup artist or someone who previously worked at Sephora or Mac. But after digging myself out of such a dark place that I fell into after college, I finally reached a point where I no longer cared what other people thought. I have ALWAYS really, really cared how others viewed me. But I decided, from that point on, to live my life how I wanted and not care about peoples opinions. I got a point where it was me or them. I was either going to stay in a box that people and society put me in and be miserable for the rest of my life, or I was going be happy and free and LIVE!
I believe that a positive mindset can change your life, I believe that you can have anything you want in life through manifestation, and I believe that beauty is important no matter what your idea of beauty is because it can lift you up, make you feel beautiful, and make you feel confident! I started my YouTube channel and revamped my Instagram to share positivity and beauty with others, help people with beauty, skincare, positivity, and empowerment, and live the life that I am most happy living! This is what I want to do with my life and I know that I will reach the level of success that I dream of because I truly enjoy everything that I am doing for myself and for others.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
HA! Is anyone’s life a smooth road? It has more definitely NOT been easy. I struggled with really bad depression for several years and it was/is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with. But I wouldn’t say that it hasn’t also helped me in some ways. It’s made me so much stronger, so much more aware of my feelings, life, and people around me, and I wouldn’t have changed my entire mindset and been where I am now without having gone through it. My advice to other young women starting their own journey is to START. I wasted so much time and so many years worrying about other people and their opinions and I suffered because of it. You only get one life so do what YOU want with it. Other people’s opinions are just that and they only hold as much weight as you allow them to. Choose YOU, not them.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I create content for YouTube and Instagram by sharing my own advice and life experiences as well as tips and tricks in makeup, skincare, haircare, and fitness. I am most proud of how far I’ve come mentally and with my confidence. But what I am most happy and grateful for are the friends I’ve made on social media because of the connections I’ve been able to make by sharing my life publicly. I have real, deep conversations with people on social media all the time about depression, positivity, problems we’re both struggling with and we help each other and have made a genuine friendship because of it. I think that’s part of what sets me apart from others. I am real. Not saying that other people aren’t but I really do care. I respond to everyone and want to help any and everyone if I can. I don’t just share my face with makeup on it and make my life look perfect. I share my struggles and flaws because I want to help people.
Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
I feel like the experiences I had growing up helped me but also hurt me. They hurt me in a sense because I wasted so much time trying to follow this path that I was told I had to follow. It was the suburb life and I had a very normal family (not that that’s a bad thing), but it hindered me from coloring outside the lines, thinking outside the box, breaking the rules. I was kind of trained to think that success meant good grades, good behavior, liked by everyone, college, degree, corporate career, traditional life, never rocking the boat. If you didn’t follow that path, then you weren’t going to be successful. It’s because of that lifestyle that I spiraled when I realized I couldn’t be happy living that life. On the other hand, it has helped me because that lifestyle forced me to be “perfect” and never fail. So, I never failed… at anything. I have had countless encounters where I thought I’d fail and I cried and freaked out, but in the end, I never failed. No matter how impossible something seemed at the time or how much I panicked, I never failed. I always came through. I always made it work. I always got it done. And I always did it well. That’s how I know that no matter how harder this YouTube/social media/beauty industry path is than the “traditional” career path, I know that I’ll be successful. I know that I’ll make it work. I know that I’ll do it and I know that I’ll do it well.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lea_toshiye/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lea.toshiye
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFDbRAu9v5rycV2GowC7rJQ
Image Credit:
Me, Lea Toshiye
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