Meet Teisha Shines | Co-Creator/Owner, Singer, Multimedia Artist

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

Hi Teisha, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My thought process behind starting my own business started by growing up seeing so many of the people around me being so entrepreneurial and successful. I remember as a little child sitting on my Grandfather’s counter of his corner store on the Westside of Chicago, next door to his church where he is the Reverend and helping him count and give customers back correct change. I learned then, very young, that being your own boss provides a certain pride, tenacity, freedom, responsibility and accountability that traditional jobs cannot and will not provide. Once I attended FIDM in Downtown LA, graduating with my degree in visual communications, I further knew these were not skills that I could simply use at just any job. My art and creations became “THE JOB”. From there, I found what brings me joy and I monetized it. And that, in essence, is how The Spiritual Stoners eventually became a tangible manifested dream.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Spiritual Stoners is a lifestyle brand + Spiritual Botanica that offers all things spiritual from apparel, Sage and Florida water to intuitive readings that remain love donation based to this day. Our goal is to help heal our communities as we heal ourselves. Much like our yin yang symbol in our logo, we aim to maintain a Persistently Consistent flow to our existence on this Ghetto rock, called Earth.

What’s sets The Spiritual Stoners apart from other brands and Botanicas is our element of Masculine and feminine input and touch. My fiancé and I work together and that creates a unique vibration. I see mainly women-centric spiritual businesses but men are Spiritual and seek cosmic healing too! They also deserve a safe place to heal and that is what we are working to create.

Also, Spirituality is very on trend right now but I have been practicing and studying the cosmos and spirit way before it was a hashtag. Like since ’96, literally. I believe that sets me apart. I also do all herb work myself. If you order a salt bath, fixed candle, or intentioned oil, they were all intuitively selected, handmade and blessed by me just for you! Even our healing stones get that treatment.

While that doesn’t make us any better than any other, it does provide a certain wisdom and very personalized experience that I do not always see within my peer groups or within the Spiritual community. We aim to connect on a very human level with anyone we work with.

When it comes to challenges, the main two have been: funding and visibility. To be honest, a lack of acknowledgment, visiblity and acceptance from my peer group was initially, probably one of my biggest personal challenges because I deeply wanted acknowledgment and acceptance from my peers. I wanted to be that weird hippie girl who was finally “cool”. It can be so easy within our social media society to cave to the sin of comparison! I have admittedly fallen victim in the past by forgetting how lush and green my own garden was because I was too busy looking at someone else’s. It’s tough seeing someone who started businesses after you did, that offer same or similar products and services, getting WAY more sales, attention and followers. It can be hella defeating when you’re not pulling the numbers you projected but I have learned to focus MORE on my journey than on theirs. I had to remember that I don’t know their circumstances nor their standards of business and vice versa. Now, I either don’t follow accounts that trigger me to compare or I transmute my emotions and my frustration into improving or innovating my business.

If I could tell the world a few things about The Spiritual Stoners it would be 1. I design everything from the logo, to the site, to the apparel designs to the biz cards. Kopano and I, both, take all those amazing pictures of the products and each other 2. I handwrite EVERY thank you note on purpose and aim to do so even when we are a multimillion dollar business in a few years ;). 3. My clarient gifts are generational. My grandparents had em, my mom has em and now even my son. So supporting our business is supporting a legacy. 4. We do everything very hands on and pray over all that we do. We consider any client or customer FAMILY and we hope to add you to ours one day. 5. We are a fully bootstrapped business meaning we are literally investing in our own dreams. (We always accept love donations on our cashapp) It’s very challenging but when I get to touch someone’s life with gifts God gave me, it is one of the most gratifying feelings in the world.

Lastly, I’d like to share one of my greatest lessons along the way: REMAIN PERSISTENTLY CONSISTENT and ALWAYS CHOOSE YO SELF BEFORE ANYONE ELSE!!!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
First stop! My favorite pizza spot: Edgewood pizza. Nothing like seeing dope art, hearing great music and laughing with that Crazy East African owner, Bob. Next, for some fun, gotta hit the Rooftop at Ponce City Market to enjoy the sunset, some fun games and cute drinks! Make sure you do some shopping downstairs too. Once the night hits, no way you can come to Atlanta and not attend the world famous, Club Compound at least once but honestly, we can go to Republic lounge right next door for a more intimate and cute look. Then the next day, we can eat at Miller Union for an amazing Farm to Table meal and then hit the Painted Duck to hit some pins. We need to commit a FULL day to taking on Lil 5 points. Definitely need to handle some self care at Phoenix Wellness Center with a massage from either Mallory, Beth or Natalie. A facial with Sparkle, also known as Kacey, will make u swear you have new baby skin. After that, we can get some fresh food, snacks herbs, oils and more from Sevananda. It’s an amazing vegetarian community grocery store ran by the community. Great for finding all natural and ethically sources goods and foods. After that, let’s walk to Euclid Ave and peep all the dope finds in the shops. There’s a bazaar down there that sells some really good raw Shea butters. Now, if we just wanna kick it, like Xscape had said, then we can take a day to hit up either Piedmont park, Old 4th Ward park, or gorgeous Inman park and have a picnic with custom Publix sandwiches and don’t forget the sweet tea! Oh and I know you’ll be tired after all this, so make sure to get you a room at either W downtown or W Midtown. Thank me later!

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 LOVE to shout out my newly fiancé and co-creator of The Spiritual Stoners, Kopano Clay. He is one of the most talented music producers and drummers that I have ever met. He has a mean eye for photography as well. It’s hard to find people with pure, humble heart and that I’d him, indeed. He can easily brighten most anyone’s day. I wouldn’t be where I am today without his honesty, love and support.

Website: TheSpiritualStoners.com

Instagram: @thespiritualstoners

Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC7_aVjSqWxLCIaDwvI-_i8Q

Other: Cashapp: $SpiritualStoners

Image Credits
Kopano