Black Creators is a special series highlighting some of the amazing Black women and men who’ve successfully used their passion and platform to unite our community.
“Money isn’t as hard as we assume it is,” reads the front page of Tonya Rapley’s website. “Debt, financial stress, and embarrassment don’t have to be part of your story.”
Rapley is an internationally recognized speaker, educator, best-selling author and serial entrepreneur. She is the founder of My Fab Finance, co-host of the Color Full Lives podcast and author of The Money Manual. In 2019, Rapley acquired Club Loofah, a self-care subscription business based on the science that replacing your bath slinger every 3-4 weeks is vital to your health.
As dealing with her own financial challenges, Rapley knows firsthand how it feels to be depressed and ashamed about money. She launched My Fab Finance in 2013, at a time when her financial life was out of order. The aim? To help us break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.
Now in 2020, the experienced entrepreneur and financial expert is also a proud mom to her young son. “I’m a self-made, fun-loving businesswoman who is leaning into what it looks like to create joy in my life while taking care of my family and running businesses,” she says to ESSENCE.
On her lifestyle blog, the finance guru speaks to the complexities of building businesses with children in an effort to help ambitious entrepreneur-minded millennials interested in doing the same.
“I’m all about flexibility. I love empowering others and sharing what helps me,” she says. “So I talk about health and wellness, business tools, home decor or self-care must-haves. I am intentionally choosing and curating joy. Motherhood is also one of the reasons that I became an entrepreneur. I want to be present for the moments that matter most to my family and don’t want that decision to threaten my livelihood.”
In addition to providing tips on how to shape a business, Rapley shares lifestyle and wellness tips to help curate joy and wellness for your everyday life. Even while juggling motherhood, Rapley manages to be a full-time business owner that tours the country (pre-COVID-19 of course) providing workshops for private and nonprofit clients.
When asked what makes her passionate about creating on social media and how she leverages it to expand her audiences.
“I’m passionate about creating on [social media] because it’s a free tool that allows me to cut through the noise and directly to my audience,” Rapley says. “It removed the gatekeepers. Because of Instagram, I’ve grown my membership community for both of my brands, My Fab Finance and Club Loofah.”
Rapley is a great example of how to balance entrepreneurship, businesses, motherhood and self-care successfully.
You can find MyFabFinance at myfabfinance.com and find Tonya on Instagram, @tonya.rapley and on Twitter at @TonyaRapley.