If you don’t know about 27-year-old Brooklyn native Tionna Smalls, she’s definitely one to watch in 2012. While she is not related to hip-hop legend Biggie Smalls, she has the same bravado, charm and real-talk attitude that helped her rise from humble beginnings into celebrity. Her first book, Girl, Get Your Mind Right! The Tell-It-Like-It-Is Advice Your Love Life Has Been Missing! (William Morrow Paperbacks; $12.99), landed her a role as the relationship expert on VH1’s What Chilli Wants, guiding the show’s star, platinum-selling singer and TLC member Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, in her search for love. Smalls has taken that opportunity and capitalized on it, venturing into publishing with her own company, Talk Dat Ish Books, entrepreneurship with her boutique, Loveys and a new film project.
BlackEnterprise.com sat down with the charming, boisterous, straight-talker to find out how being on reality TV changed her life, her venture into entrepreneurship and how she plans to make her brand bigger and better.
BlackEnterprise.com: Most people know you from What Chilli Wants, but you were an author first, self-publishing your book Girl Get Your Mind Right in 2007. How was being on the show helpful toiyour popularity and future success?
Tionna Smalls: After I got the role as the relationship adviser on the show , my writing career went through the roof, and I received a healthy book deal with a huge publishing company, HarperCollins. As far as popularity from the show in general, it has definitely made me a household name. I was still living in my hometown when the first season came out, and I had to move. People were following me home asking me to find them a man. It was crazy, but I love the love people have shown me since the show. It allowed me to meet many great people, and for that alone, I am thankful.
What led you to tackle the issues in Girl Get Your Mind Right, and, your latest book Men Love Abuse: The Guide to Losing the Nice Girl Image & Getting the Man You Want (Talk Dat Ish Books; $15)?
TS: My latest book is off the chain! I can’t even lie to you. It is funny, endearing, and most of all honest. It is a book that lets women know that the less you sweat or stress a man, the better off you will be when it comes down to this thing called love. … I just knew that it was time to let people know what I had in my brain. … Many people are not ready for the truth, but if they are ready for change, they will embrace all that I have to say. I am not preachy in my books; I share my trials and tribulations as well. I come from a friend perspective, so I believe that helps people embrace the advice more.
As an author, publisher, boutique owner, and now budding filmmaker, (with your first project being Brooklyn Bred,) what is a typical day like for you?
Oh my God! Busy, as you can imagine. Well, I wake up around 9 a.m. (Mind you, I go to bed at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. the day before). The first thing I do is check e-mails from people I’m doing business with, payments from PayPal, or invitations. Next, I check my social networks (Twitter and Facebook) to see if there is anything new I need to know or anyone I need to network with. I also advertise all of my ventures or give updates. We have eight pages we control, so we have to make sure everything is updated. Sometimes, I proofread my authors’ work, or I go to Loveys (my boutique) and make sure the place is running correctly. I am very hands on in my businesses. I’m also engaged, so I make sure my fiancé is taken care of.
You’re very active online, even posting casting calls for your new movie via Twitter. How influential is social media to your brand?
Social media has made my brand. Vh1 called me for the show because they used to read my column online. My supporters were able to keep up with me after the show ended almost a year and a half ago because of social media. I personally love it because you can reach a broader audience. I am very into
being a national brand, and social media helps me do that. I sell a lot of books online and I love it. It is the fastest way to spread a message to your audience and it helps your brand because you are able to hit your target market with a click of a button.Where does the motivation to do what you do (specifically encourage & empower women) come from?
My motivation is from being born and raised in the ‘hood (East New York area of Brooklyn). Every day, you had examples of what not to be. Every day you saw people bite the dust. Seeing that made me realize that I didn’t want to be a statistic. I always wanted more for myself. I also have parents who are still happily married who taught us the game, so I guess I am passing along what I learned. I love to encourage and empower women because I am a woman, and one day I will have a daughter, and it will be my job as her mother to teach her what she should and shouldn’t accept from a man or in life. I take that role as a love coach very serious. I’d like to say I am the queen of self-esteem because if you have self-esteem, everything else will work out for you personally and professionally. You have to believe in yourself first.
So you’ve ventured into television, more books and even films. What’s next for Tionna Smalls?
I am coming back to TV! Yes! This time it is my own show and my own brand, and I am so excited.
We will film my debut feature film, Brooklyn Bred, this summer. I wrote and directed the movie, and I must tell you it is something else.
I also have two authors who are coming out with great books this summer. One is called Good Men Do Cheat by Carl A. Roberts, and the other is called Pretty Boy with the House in Virginia by B. Styliz Ortiz, his memoir of being a 22-year-old, gorgeous young man living with HIV.
We are also expanding my boutique’s brand by adding a shoe bar in Brooklyn and opening a store in Philadelphia. I’m also working on expanding the brand of my plus-size boutique, Majesty’s Closet. So let’s just say, I am very busy these days but it is all-good and I am ready for the challenge.
My biggest goal for 2012 is to shoot my movie and get this money so that I can relax a little more in 2013. (Laughs). I am a go-getter, so for the next six months of the year, I just want to keep doing what I am doing and make things happen with leadership from our Father, God.