Everybody and Their Mother Monday: People I am Proud of!

It’s “Everybody and their Mother Monday!”

Today I am starting a new Instagram and blog series called “Everybody and their Mother Monday!”

This series will be all about things or places or people that I think are absolutely fantastic and have been a blessing or greatly beneficial to my life.  In it, I will be sharing who and what I think “Everybody and their Mother” should know, too! 

Today, for my first post, I wanted to share some of my favorite people who are doing really cool things. These are women who may or may not consider themselves “influencers” but that have absolutely influenced MY life in a positive way, just by being who they are, and through me watching their journey in action. 

I am simply PROUD of each of them, and now I want to share them with you!  I know every single one of these women personally and I’ve seen them persevere through hardship that would crush most. Watching what they are doing reminds me of how much God enjoys giving beauty for ashes. 

I am linking their work here on the blog today, and I hope you’ll check them all out! 

The first is Ginger from Urbanology Designs. Guys, this woman is someone whose life sort of reminds me of Job’s. Her life has contained so much tragedy and suffering–from an abusive childhood, to an abusive ex-husband, to losing two of her siblings, to watching her child fight cancer, to surviving an aggressive form of cancer herself– Ginger has had her share of heartache and more. But there’s a happy ending, much like the story of Job that many of us have read about.

 It seems I have seen God bless Ginger one hundred fold, in every area of her life. In the last few years, she has founded a wildly successful interior design firm in Texas (Urbanology Designs), is writing a book, has won multiple prestigious design awards, and has been featured in countless publications and books.   

Ginger recently restored an old fire house (Urban Firehouse) which she converted into her design studio, an event space, and gorgeous co-working spaces.  Follow her instagram for lots of beautiful home inspiration, to see how she cherishes her sweet family, and to hear some of her story. Check out her work on Urbanologydesigns.com

Next up is my friend Laneshia Fentress.  Laneshia is a successful educator in the field of diversity and inclusion education at American Airlines.  She loves to inspire people with her uplifting stories, and she sprinkles positivity and love everywhere she goes. This woman is one who regularly gets stopped in the grocery store by random strangers who pour out their life story, or by people who stop to simply encourage her! 

Throughout her life, Laneshia has chosen to push others into the spotlight and stay “behind the scenes”.  She always aims to make sure that, in her presence, no one ever feels less than, or left behind.  Laneshia always makes people feel special and loved, and being around her causes you to see yourself as God sees you. 

Laneshia’s passion is cooking and baking, and she loves showering her friends with comfort food and making them happy and full (I love -hate her for that!) 

On top of that, Laneshia is an author and a singer, and she grew up in the music industry. I’m so excited and proud that she just released her first single called Long Road Home a couple of days ago.  Go check it out on all music platforms and show my friend that it’s ok if we put HER in the spotlight! 

This next woman is the LITERAL Brow Queen, and founder of The Brow Project. I met Nicole when we were both working in the Cosmetics industry years ago.  Nicole is an incredibly talented makeup artist, but decided to pursue her dream of starting her own business.  

Nicole has been through many challenges in her life, and she suffered from severe anxiety because of it. But she pressed through and stepped outside of her comfort zone.  She learned how to Microblade several years ago, and she now has a successful permanent makeup artistry business that not only provides people with the most beautiful brows ever, but she has her own gorgeous, free standing studio where people from all over the globe visit to enhance their brows, eyes, and lips- making life a little easier.   

She now has a team by her side and she is one of the most sought after permanent makeup educators in the world. If you need your brows done, don’t hesitate to get on Nicole’s waiting list and visit her and her team in Dallas.  She is worth the wait, and worth every penny. 

And now I get to tell you all about Bree Clark from @theimanproject. Bree grew up in a household that often hosted parties but that wasn’t always emotionally healthy, and at one point, she found herself in a world of trouble.  This certainly was not what she envisioned for her future, and she decided to change the trajectory of her life, with very little resources at hand.

Bree and her husband Carlos began their business by building affordable tables for families. Little did she know that it would lead to building figurative tables for all people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to come and sit with one another, through her beautiful lifestyle spaces and “On the Table” Workshops in Dallas. 

While raising two beautiful boys, Bree and Carlos run two lifestyle studios: Little House on Routh, in the Uptown area of Dallas, and Little House of Bishop Arts, located in the Bishop Arts District. It is in these spaces that she invites people to host their own events, baby showers, intimate weddings and such, but she also hosts her own fun pop up shops and workshops here as well.

One of my favorite things to watch Bree do, is host her Floral Wine and Design Workshops, where people who don’t look like one another come to get to know new people, drink a little wine, and learn how to put together gorgeous floral arrangements. 

When Covid hit, it didn’t stop Bree. She simply converted the workshops into virtual events, where local Dallasites could come and pick up their wine and floral supplies, and then join Bree and guest florists for a fun time of connection and creativity, all online.  

The great news is that Bree just launched this nationally, so we ALL can join!  AND she launched a brand new podcast, Piece of Cake Podcast, which everyone needs to check out! 

Finally, I want to share my friend Tash Haynes. Tash grew up just outside of Seattle in the city of Tacoma, where she was born to a mother who is developmentally delayed and has a cognitive disability . As a result, Tash was placed in the foster care system, where she was never adopted into a permanent family, but instead aged out of the system. 

Tash is one of the biggest inspirations to me, because not only did she NOT become a tragic statistic of poverty and homelessness (which sadly ravages countless children who are aging out of the system) but she holds multiple degrees including a Bachelors in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on English, Business and Communications, and a Masters of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Public Action.  

Those degrees are fitting, because It doesn’t stop there. Tash began her career giving back to her community working for a not for profit organization which served underprivileged youth. But as her love for her community grew, she felt the itch to start something of her very own. I watched Tash walk away from a successful career in this non profit organization to pursue her passion for photography. It was near and dear to her heart, as she had so few photographs to document her own young life. She wanted to give the gift that she never had, to others. 

Tash and her husband Ike are parents of two beautiful daughters, Wisdom and Courage. They have one of the most successful senior and family photography businesses in the industry, and they are consistently invited to speak on high-level photography platforms, educating other photographers in running a successful business and other elements of photography. They have also created  their own successful photography conferences that are attended by people of all backgrounds and ethnicities, and are truly diverse and inclusive, something that has largely been missing from their industry. 

True to who she is, Tash expanded her love for community by creating a high school senior program and non profit organization where she and Ike not only photographed seniors, but that also allowed these teens to serve their own cities through community service and giving back to those around them.  

Follow Tash at Ikeandtash.com and on her personal platform, wisdomandcourage.com where she talks all about motherhood, travel, lifestyle and business best practices! 

Woo! That’s all for this edition of “Everybody and their Mother Monday.”  I hope you fall in love with and follow all of these beauties on instagram, and please be sure subscribe to annamaegroves.com so you never miss a post!