Fashion, Life, Intro to Me
Let us start with an introduction. Shall we?
I am Tanya. I am the owner of Miaella Marie, which is a women’s boutique in Clermont FL. I am married to Ben and we have 3 beautiful girls together. Kiara who is about to be 16, Kylah who is 7 going on 21, and Kenzi who is 5. We will talk about them more in the future.
I am a 35 year old business owner who quit her 6 figure income in Dec of 2020 and pursued a better balance of being mom and a #bossbabe (I don’t care if that hashtag gets thrown around a lot… I am still using it). I was a Central FL District Manager in Hospitality leading the best team anyone could hope for (yall know who you are!), in the middle of a pandemic none the less. The company I worked for was in the middle of making major moves to build a better name for themselves. (Did I mention, in the middle of a pandemic? Pretty cool stuff.) I worked an insane amount of hours to make an impact on the company mission. I always believed, the harder you hustle, the better the reward. (“Good things happen to those who hustle”….. Such BS when your hustling turns into an unhealthy addiction of power)
You see, to me, the reward was money. 
Now don’t get me wrong, money is important, but I let money take over the good in my life. In the workplace we exchange time for money. I exchanged time, family, and morals for money. I started with good intentions and aspirations to climb up the corporate ladder and show people that women can make it in a mans world. I wanted to make a difference and teach my kids and employees the power of hard work. I wanted to grow people and lead them into greatness they didn’t even know they were capable of. I did just that. Well, the employees part… You see, I gave my all to my work, so much that I had nothing left to give at home.
Now fast forward to an unhealthy work life balance (of my own doing). This is where the fun starts! And by fun I mean embarrassing guilt ridden months. I found myself forgoing my morals, my commitments, and my relationship with God. I ignored all my signs of anxiety and fought it off in an unhealthy way. I was actually told by a previous boss that “showing emotion is a sign of weakness and will hold me back from a promotion”. I find this funny now since most large Corporations are preaching empathy but have ZERO idea of what that truly means. (If you’re a leader of others, I highly recommend teaching soft skills to your team. I have a sweet presentation I wouldn’t mind sharing if you email me at miaellamarieboutique@gmail.com) I traded my soul for a paycheck. Yikes, that hurts to type out knowing that like 2 people are going to read this. (Ya I use humor to fight the pain)
Dec 2020 I gave my resignation to the career I thought I’d never leave. That same day, I began to heal. I started to work through all the pain I buried deep inside and it was ugly. It was like looking in the mirror and not recognizing who was looking back at you because you are not that person. A monster was staring back at me. In this moment, I almost gave up on my marriage and the life I worked “so hard” to build. Ok, if we are being fair…. I gave up on my marriage long before that. I started to realize the mom I was being, the wife I was, and the friend I wasn’t being and let me tell you… I was at an all time low. But you see, in the darkness of the valley is where true healing starts. That is where God was most present in my entire life.
"The God on the mountain is still God in the valley"
I started my Company, Miaella Marie, in June of 2020 as a “side hustle”. (I swear this is the one and only time you will hear me use that term because it truly makes me nauseous as a previous direct sales lady). By the time I left the hospitality industry, my site was closed because I didn’t have the energy to run a large market of hotels, fake who I was daily, AND run an online business. But, I guess since I quit my job, I had time to find energy now!
My husband reached out to our local churches to find resources to help our marriage and to help me get me back. That is not a typo. Help ME get ME back. In the end, no one could get me back if I wasn’t leading the change and truly wanting it. We attended Re-Engage. Even if your marriage is sunshine and rainbows, I highly recommend looking for this program in your area if it is available reengage.org. You can thank me later after the 16 week course is done at miaellamarieboutique@gmail.com. We sought private marriage counseling as well. ALL things I was TERRIFIED of. Why? I hid my feelings for SO LONG. To be strong for everyone else. To show up when others needed it. Except, I forgot to show up for myself. Something I will never do again.
At the end of 2020 (what a crazy, life changing year for many) I showed up for me. I went back to my roots and made right with God, my family, and the friends who became family. Yay!!! Right?? Can I get an Amen??? Well, now I needed to financially provide for my family too. Easier said than done. I created a business plan for Miaella Marie that now included a brick & mortar along with being online. My dreams got bigger. I knew this would take some time but I focused, I educated myself, I made mistakes, and I executed. Five months later, I opened my B&M. And I will 100% go into the craziness of that alone in the future but we don’t have time to get into it now.
I had always wanted to “be my own boss” and I have finally made it. Well let me be the first to tell you, it isn’t all its cracked up to be. But it is also far more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. I surrounded myself with people who were willing to teach with patience, people who were supportive even in your failures, and people who are just genuine #bossbabes. Told you I would keep using it! Official merch for Babes Support Babes coming soon brought you by Perezidential Family Group (Instagram.com/perezidentialfamily) & yours truly (Instagram.com/miaellamarieboutique).
Funny thing is… when you change your attitude to focus on the positives through the struggles, positivity finds you. I am still finding positivity through my darkness. I am still a work in progress. But most importantly, I am ME again. Now that we got REAL personal on day 1, why don’t you follow me on Insta so I can stalk your page and learn more about you! Instagram.com/miaellamarieboutique
Stay tuned for more as I blog out my journey of entrepreneurship, motherhood, fashion hacks, and overall life with anyone who is here for a roller coaster!
Tanya