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

Hi Shaniqua, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
Creating habits have been fundamental in the journey to the success of Dash of Sunshine. When I started to create daily habits, I noticed things that would stress me previously wouldn’t anymore. This goes hand in hand with being disciplined. Both are fundamental life skills as well. A couple examples are that I started by using my Sunday to plan my IG posts. Planoly has been my best friend. With being the owner and only employee of Dash of Sunshine, I would run all over the place trying to process and ship orders ASAP. I had to slow down and be realistic with myself. If I received orders every day, the post office used to see me every day. I streamlined this process to benefit the consumer with timely shipping (not immediate shipping) and allowing me to have personal time some days. It took me to step outside of the box and look at how I was running my business and why I felt stressed to see I could prevent a lot of my stressors.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Outside of being a business owner, I am a full time (working hours) Registered Nurse. My nurses know what that means lol! I have 8 years of nursing experience, starting from a baby nurse to leadership in one of Atlanta’s well know hospital systems. I’ve also broken away from the mundane routine of working at the same hospital to becoming a travel nurse. With all those experiences, what I learned about myself is that I am in control of my happiness. This profession chose me and I am not giving up! I do believe nursing is my calling but on my terms. One thing everyone should know and remember is that corporations/big businesses work for their success not yours; so, make sure whatever you do, that you do what’s in the best interest for you not them. This is when I decided to work on my time. This is also where I discovered my entrepreneurial drive. One of the reasons, Dash of Sunshine was born! You can find out more about my brand at thedasshofsunshine.com or see my previous VoyageATL article.

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?
When the girls come to Atlanta, these are some of the things we MOST definitely have to do!
1. Fancy dinner wearing our best Freakum dresses
2. RoseBar on a Friday night
3. Patio lunch on Saturday
4. Sunday Brunch, it has to be at a turn location! Music & Mimosas is the motto!
5.Any mall, most likely Lenox (all out of towners think Lenox is the place to be for some weird reason, I hate it there lol) Anything else is impromptu but those are the MUST DO’s!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
From the beginning, I’d like to thank Ashley for helping me see my vision. I found her business meet up event on Eventbrite and from that meeting, I never stopped the planning process of Dash of Sunshine. There was also a friend that continuously turned my uncertain and negative thoughts into positives. We were on vacation in Panama and she told me “Just do it! And if you have to change as you go along, that’s ok! it’s YOUR business you can do what you want to do!” I also follow a lot of motivational pages on IG and Pinterest to keep myself motivated and inspired. I have my times when I get unmotivated but candle making brings me so much peace, I just love doing it.

Website: thedashofsunshine.com
Instagram: dash0fsunshine
Facebook: Dash of Sunshine