Meet Niesha Lyons | Entrepreneur Creative

We had the good fortune of connecting with Niesha Lyons and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Niesha, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
the idea for my business came about through me watching my mother growing up she was putting events together and working with the community! She also had K97.5 with Brian Dawson and DJ Wade Banner come out to an event we had in McDougall Terrace. My mom put this big block party together Shawty was dope. Then she also went to North Carolina Century University where she majored in mass communication broadcast media. I attended a couple of her classes and I said oh snap I think this is what I wanna do.
so normally with that major they literally asked you do you want to do TV or do you want do radio, and literally, I saw my mom do both she actually was on the student radio as well. Seeing her do both just lit my eyes up once I saw that I knew what I wanted to do.

I Graduated high school in 2012 then I went to Shaw University. I majored in mass communication concentration was broadcast media. I did not complete college.. while I was there, I created my brand NATTRULYNI and literally it just took off from there. I did a YouTube segment called “Dear College Students”. We had an event on the yard. I was walking around with a piece of paper literally and had everybody taking pictures with it and posting on social media with a hashtag #nattrulyni #dearcollegestudents. From that moment, I hit the ground running. I did a understudy with K975, with WRAL , abc11 like I just wanted to experience everything and this is me doing this as a freshman. people was like you can’t do that and literally I showed them that I could, then I switched over to straight radio! I picked radio over TV and news. I just felt like I could reach more people through radio. So my sophomore year I did an internship with most wanted radio shout out to them from Saint Augustine University. I met some of the dopest members of Kappa Alpha Psi! They literally taught me everything that they could about radio and about podcasting so definitely that took me to a whole different level as well. I’m from Durham North Carolina, so I started realizing a lot of people were getting into music and becoming upcoming artist. I said to myself What should I do to help push them? That’s when I created “THE STREETZ TALK WITH NATTRULYNI”! I hit the ground running with this one. I literally started interviewing every artist in Durham, Raleigh Greensboro Fayetteville, North Carolina like I was going everywhere to interview everybody. I was in different neighborhoods interviewing people I didn’t have a spot at this time so I was just going and interviewing everybody everywhere. So this concludes how I came up with my business.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started my business in 2014 I came up with the name NatTrulyNi and I was just branding myself. Then down the line, I came up with THE STREETZ TALK WITH NATTRULYNI , which was actually a talkshow that was premiered on YouTube. This is where I learned about consistency and organization. I was interviewing so many artists at once literally to the point where I could not keep up with the editing. This was definitely a lesson I had to learn the hard way. I had to learn OK schedule three interviews process them and then post. I had Artist upset and asking when my interview gone drop. This was my careless stage when I first started and I was careless but appreciative at the same time because I was doing interviews for free literally for like two or three years straight. So my mind state was like is I’m giving you a free platform to promote yourself and your music. You’re not gonna rush me. Down the line I definitely learned that was not the attitude to have. Business was picking up so fast I enjoyed it. It was definitely not easy. I was a one person show. didn’t have a crew. I started off recording on my phone, and literally using a laptop from Shaw when I was in school. MacBooks were like the number one thing to edit on. I got me a camera then eventually I got me a laptop to edit it on which is a MacBook I got from the pawnshop. I was still in school. No one in the mass communication department wanted to show me how to use Final Cut Pro! I had to ask one guy on campus to show me and pretty much I had to beg him because he was already doing the videos and stuff on campus. I felt like he thought I was trying to come for his target area and I wasn’t. He showed me like three things and was like OK that’s all. I stayed in the editing lab day and night and taught myself how to use Final Cut pro. I was messing up videos left and right but I stayed consistent. I didn’t have a location to shoot until I found 21C hotel and museum. I found out about a release form. I filled it out I booked as many days as I could, and I started interviewing. Down the line I got my own suite and from there things got way better. I did a couple events along the way I started doing Cyphers. Everything just started picking up. I was very thankful and what I want people to know about my brand. I’ve always been the type who never discriminated against any artist and they know that. Anyone that wanted to perform at a event I let them perform, no matter how people felt about their craft because everyone works hard for their craft. That’s always been my motto they work hard, why not give someone a opportunity when someone gave me one. And I don’t have favorites at all. Ive ran across to a lot of people that are in the same field as me that have their favorites I’ve never been the favorite type of person. I’ve always wanted to see everyone win in the end. I’m definitely thankful for growth and where I’ve landed today there’s more store

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my friend was in town for a week here are a list of places I enjoy and would take her.

Kales kitchen (owner Monica M)
2502 Fayetteville St. Durham, North Carolina

Pink Elephant (owner Lyric) facials and soap products- visit her at Restore and rejuvenate hydration med spa ( owner Rachel)

5607 NC 55, STE 102A Durham, North Carolina

Southpoint mall
Durham NC

Uncle Kool Breeze (owner Richard Garner ) shave iced!

Lash Print (owner Tyler ) to get our lashes done

Chelsea Baptist MUA. Perfectedbychels to get our makeup done

Amber Patrice ( owner ) Bam exquisite tresses! To get our hair done

21C hotel & museum
Sight seeing

4Reasonsco – (owner San’ttario cates jr) clothing shop for children

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to definitely shout out my mother Barbara Lyons and also my manager Marquita Sutton without them I know it’s been plenty of times where I would’ve just quit or stop doing what I’m doing due to minor struggles. Also I would like to give Thanks to all the artist I’ve ever worked with. shout out to my son for motivating me and keeping me grounded. Shout out to Brain Dawson and director at the time for allowing me to do that visit and understudy. Blessings

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nattrulyni?igsh=aTlyejN6ZTRnODI1&utm_source=qr

Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/nattrulyni?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=f5971450-19cb-440e-a639-0a990d925648

Twitter: https://x.com/nattrulyni/status/1628384773763907585?s=46

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nattrulyni?mibextid=2JQ9oc

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@nattrulyni?si=QYWSduVSKmtPsnAp

Image Credits
Loco visuals Alicia jones Director E films