I’m Shylah May and I quit my 9-5. Wow, that feels really good to say!

I have manifested this day since the day I learned I didn’t want to become a news reporter (around 5 years ago). I was interning at NBC news San Diego when my dreams of potentially becoming an E! News reporter were crushed by the fact that it wasn’t all glitz and glam. I learned that in the beginning of being a news reporter, it was a very low paying job and that you would have to move to the middle of nowhere just to get some sort of experience. Plus, you would be reporting on DUIs and car crashes… all very negative things. No. Thank. You.

It was then, that I had to figure out my next career move. I was very young, had one more year of college, and everyone told me I had time. (But why didn’t feel like I had time?)

I had been following a blogger, The Skinny Confidential, since my freshman year of college (Year of 2013). I was in love with her job. I was in love with her content. She focused on healthy living and talked about things that most people were afraid to, publicly. I knew I had always wanted to do something like that. But, being in college, I felt restricted and didn’t know where to begin…

So when my dreams of becoming a reporter went down the drain, I started to gain more curiosity about social media.

I interned at a social media agency that specialized in the beauty space. I wanted to learn more about the other side of social media – the brands, the contracts, how they work with influencers etc. 4 months into the job, they hired me full time (while I was in college).

6 months later, I graduated college. 3 months after that, I started a new job in podcast advertising…while simultaneously starting my blog, finally!

I knew if I were to do my blog and social media as a side hustle, I wouldn’t want to do it for others brand as well, for my 9-5. It would have caused fatigue, too quick! So, I dove into the audio space (which is huge and up and coming!) I knew I could learn a few things in that space if I needed it for my future.

Everyday while working at that job, I would constantly go on walks with my friend Alexa and dream about going full time with Shylah May. I didn’t know how I could go full time, but I just knew it was going to happen at some point. It had to happen… doing the blog is what made me happiest.

Dreaming about going full time with my blog and brand is what got me through most days working a mundane corporate job. By the way, it had nothing to do with the job itself, I just personally knew in my heart that the corporate world wasn’t for me all along. It didn’t make me happy. It didn’t motivate me to go above and beyond. Being restricted to a salary just wasn’t for me. I didn’t feel like I was bettering society or living with a purpose.

When I’m blogging and sharing my life with you, it fuels me. Because in return, a community forms. The DM’s I have received saying I saved their life is what encourages me to keep sharing deeper and deeper. It’s uncomfortable to share all of your insecurities to the world wide web, but the amount of love that is exchanged from being vulnerable is indescribable.

I’ve prayed a lot about this decision to quit my 9-5. In fact, I declined an offer for a job that made 30k more than what I was making at my corporate job, and I still felt so pulled to take the leap of faith and go full time being my own boss. That offer was tempting, but my heart is completely taken by this community, brand and company.

So here I am, I’m Shylah May and I quit my 9-5. My title is now the CEO and founder of Shop Shylah May. I’m a creator of a blog, brand and lounge-wear company.

What a title, right?

xx

Check out my favorite dinner recipe as of late, here.

Check out my most loved products of 2020 here.