Today we’d like to introduce you to Tonya Staab.
Tonya, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Australia, where I worked in the magazine industry for about 10 years while raising my oldest son as a single parent. I then married a Marine and found myself living in San Diego as a stay-at-home mum raising my three children (including twins’) through numerous deployments. Ten years later, I was a divorced single mum raising three children, who were over 40, with no college degree, but I had to find a way to earn money to raise my family. I had been blogging for a few years, but mostly to keep family and friends in Australia up-to-date with our latest adventure, so I decided to give it a go full-time. I’ve always been creative, and I quickly found what I was meant to be doing. So now, I get to do what I love while still being able to make it to every doctor’s appointment and school event, and shuttle my kids around to whatever they have going on. The best part is I often get to ‘bring them to work’. They help out with the craft projects, we’ll try my latest recipes for dinner, and they love being able to attend local events. Every day is something completely new, whether I’m developing a recipe, up to my elbows in glitter and glue, breaking out the power tools, traveling to a new location, hosting a workshop or testing beauty products.
The past year though I’ve moved more into content creation for other sites. My passion is creating, so any opportunity presented to make something and I jump at it… most recently, I developed handmade pinatas for Nickelodeon Parents, and I contribute monthly craft projects to Hewlett Packard’s MyPrintly.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There’s a lot of hours and hard work that goes into blogging and social media. Behind the pretty photos and tutorials, there are hours (sometimes days) of styling, lighting, editing, product development, negotiating contracts, and pitching ideas (there are many hats to wear)… some days even coming up with an idea can seem daunting. You know you have a deadline and a topic but the ideas just aren’t flowing. And the online world is a forever changing environment – there are always new rules and regulations to follow, social media outlets are constantly changing, and you have to stay on top of (if not get ahead of) the latest trends.
Plus, you are putting yourself out there, where there is always going to be someone wanting to judge you, or who isn’t going to like what you post, but you have to put your big girl panties on and just go with it. The most important thing is to be authentically you. Don’t try to be anyone else, there’s enough space for everyone and people want to hear your story, see your style, and know you. Just be real. One of my favorite things at the moment is Instagram Stories. You get a glimpse into the real life behind the staged and often perfect photos.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As a lifestyle blogger and content creator, I spend most of my time developing DIY projects and recipes, and sourcing fun destinations and activities for families. For someone who seems to spend a lot of time online both on social media and blogging, most of what I put out there is to encourage families to get out and do more unplugged activities together. What I’m sharing though is the fun that my kids and I have always experienced, even before I started this journey, only now, I’ve found an outlet to share my ideas.
There have definitely been some big highlights though, from showcasing holiday parties and costumes on San Diego morning news channels to developing a project for the Legoland Discovery Centers, speaking on a creative blogging panel at Etsy’s headquarters, hosting craft workshops, and seeing other people featuring my projects on their own sites.
Which women have inspired you in your life?
My mum was the one who inspired my love of crafting when I was little, I still remember her teaching me how to knit and cross-stitch. But, it wasn’t just her, my dad is a woodcarver, my grandmother was a painter, so the creative genes run deep in our family. And now, my partner, Mike, who is just amazing at DIY projects and often helps me out with my crazy ideas. Some of my most prized possessions are those that they made for me, whether it was a crocheted scarf, the cane bar stools my dad made that I bought overseas with me, or the painting of my parents garden that my grandmother gave me when I moved to San Diego. There’s just something about handmade that brings up so many memories, that I want others to have those too.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.tonyastaab.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyastaab/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TonyaStaab/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TonyaStaab
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
