Join Program's Wait List: https://bofainstitute.cornell.edu/
The American Dream Academy: https://theamericandreamacademy.org/
HubSpot: https://academy.hubspot.com/
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We’ve never just been an apparel line, Rich Auntie Energy is an echo chamber for all of the women that deserve their flowers for what they give to our youth, families, friends and generally what they give to the culture.
]]>We started RAE with a wish and a prayer that what was meant for us will never miss us. We’re beyond grateful for that wish to be consistently proven true.
We went from selling only one shirt (OG RAE Shirt) to having almost 100 different drops in just 3 years time.
From trying to make shirts with a Cricut in my 400 sq ft apartment in Hyde Park, Chicago and having to reprint and reship over 50 orders because the logo was falling off the damn shirts. Lawd knows the struggle was real & yes we lost out on so much $$.
From getting a 2 bedroom in Bronzeville, just so that RAE could have more space to store and ship from. To finally being able to afford to pay someone to print shirts.
To realizing we were losing money outsourcing and then being able to afford an industrial heat press and working in an over 100 degree room at the height of Summer Time Chi because you couldn’t run the AC & the heat press at the same time. Chile…the ghetto.
To being able to afford a mini warehouse, to being able to afford to outsource again and realizing you wasted money on so much stuff for the warehouse.
From 100 Rich Aunties in our community to over 12,000.
From RAE being able to self fund itself, since our initial investment of about $500 each, for about 2 years. To that 2nd year having to give $,$$$ that we didn’t have to spare from our personal finances just to keep RAE going.
To having no trademarks to having Rich Auntie Energy registered and Rich Auntie in queue (we’re sending cease and desists to all those other Rich Auntie brands…wait on it.)
From being featured in The Root, XoNecole, Shoutout Atlanta, Fox 5 NYC and now Good Morning America …man we are beyond grateful!
I would say we almost can’t believe our luck but that’s not true. I believe everything that has happened is because the goal of Rich Auntie Energy has been simple from the start. We’ve never just been an apparel line, RAE is an echo chamber for all of the women that deserve their flowers for what they give to our youth, families, friends and generally what they give to the culture.
Rich Auntie Energy is a community, a calling card and an affirmation.
Rich Auntie Energy is you, me, and the women we are becoming.
Thank you for allowing us to keep this community going for 3 years.
We are still grateful to be in your orbit, if even in the smallest way.
Love, Light & Wealth,
The Aunties
T-Neé & Rich Auntie Lex
]]>It planted a seed that would become the version of Eboneé that is writing this blog…the seed that would become Rich Auntie Energy.
That seed led me to the conclusion that for the foreseeable future my priority is not a biological legacy. The season that I’m in is calling me to focus on my personal legacy.
My understanding of a personal legacy is what I like to call the Legacy Trifecta - a Spiritual Legacy, Relational Legacy and a Financial Legacy.
]]>I guess family has always been a feeling to me. A knowing…a spoken and unspoken agreement…I just know it’s never been about biology for me. I’ve never cared that I don’t look like anyone I’ve ever met. I’ve never cared that it wasn’t possible for me to ever find my biological parents (though TikTok taught me otherwise). I’ve never cared about being blood related to anyone. I’ve never really cared about the way the world defined family or others expectations of the people they call family. I’ve never cared until recently.
This past year and half I’ve had everything I ever thought about family ripped up and thrown about as though it was all a lie. Despite this I’ve started to give more mental space to the thought of me starting a family…me being a mother. Now I do not mean I’ve been thinking about me becoming anyones mama any time soon…I’ve been thinking generally.
I’ve always wanted kids, I’ve always wanted to be a mother. Now, if that want has been nurture, nature or trauma I’m unsure. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. My Motherhood Trifecta? 😂
Either way, I’ve known I wanted to be a mama since I was a kid. I wanted to become a mother even more almost a year after my mama died. I honestly only came out of that dark place I was in after my mama died because I had some type of revelation or vision that I was supposed to be a mother. That my mama left me when I was barely an adult because she had given me everything I needed to survive this life without her. I believed that she gave me everything she had and it was now up to me to flourish. It was up to me to build my own legacy because I was hers and I’d never let Ginny down. Never.
My early twenties were dedicated to becoming a mother that, “baby whose name I’m not sharing with y’all so y’all can steal it”, would be proud of. I started living for an imaginary possible future baby…that sounds a little insane, sweet and also totally sane. Then, in my mid-twenties I had another sudden enlightenment and realized that I was absolutely insane for living my life for something outside of myself…for something that hasn’t even manifested yet. It was a noble cause for a while there, and the only reason I graduated college but still I realized I wanted different things now. Also, news about my thyroid disease being a possible hindrance for a simple pregnancy. Isn’t biology fun! 😑
I wanted a life that was my own to define more than I wanted a literal biological legacy that would likely shape and define me for the 18 year guarantee, if not the rest of my life. I wanted the chance to really know and love the deepest, darkest and brightest parts of myself before I could even think about raising, nurturing and loving a child into doing the same. For me, it wasn’t and isn’t possible for me to do these things simultaneously. Hats off to the women that do and have done it, I am in awe of you.
See the thing is, that second revelation planted a seed. It planted a seed that would become the version of Eboneé that is writing this blog…the seed that would become Rich Auntie Energy.
That seed led me to the conclusion that for the foreseeable future my priority is not a biological legacy. The season that I’m in is calling me to focus on my personal legacy.
My understanding of a personal legacy is what I like to call the Legacy Trifecta - a Spiritual Legacy, Relational Legacy and a Financial Legacy.
I’m on an ongoing beautiful journey with my spiritual legacy, Rich Auntie Energy is currently a large part of my relational legacy and I’m still working on my financial legacy.
When I talk about the Legacy Trifecta the following is what I'm referencing:
Focusing on my Legacy Trifecta has led me to a life of impact and meaning. A life I couldn’t have imagined when my mama died. A life I didn’t plan for.
Focusing on my Legacy Trifecta has led me to a moment in time when my first baby, Rich Auntie Energy, will be featured in even the smallest way on a news segment that will discuss Black Women Fertility & more on Fox5NYC News (3/24 at 5:30p ET). An amazing reporter, Susannie, knew of our brand and remembered us at just the right moment and for just the right topic.
Isn’t alignment wonderful?
When I think about the moment I realized the impact Rich Auntie Energy will have on the world, I remember how much I wanted to uplift the women who are the support beams of the village that it takes to raise a child. I remember how much I empathize and understand the women who want to love, protect and nurture the babies that are our future. I remember that there are so many women who identify as The Rich Auntie that don’t have children currently, don’t want children, can’t have children, don’t want to be defined by the functions of their uterus, or want people to mind the uterus attached to them. I think about the women who don’t have the Hallmark section (manifesting a partnership? 🤔). The women whose holiday is unknown or forgotten (Auntie’s Day is 7/26). I think about the women like me who just want to figure life out before and if ever they bring life into the world.
I think about these women often. I think they are my family too. The “knowing” is there between Rich Aunties. I think about what I can offer these women. I think about how the path of my Spiritual Legacy has led to the expansion of my Relational Legacy, which has naturally led to the ever growing abundance attached to my Financial Legacy.
Focusing on my Legacy Trifecta has me rooted in a space of contentment, curiosity and acceptance. I accept that I don’t know if I want a Biological Legacy. I accept that I may not be physically able to have a Biological Legacy. I accept that I won’t know until I know and I love that for me. I accept and I know that I will have a family regardless of biology….like I always have.
I’ll be proud either way. My mama, Ginny, didn’t have a Biological Legacy but best believe I am a product of her Legacy Trifecta and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Isn’t alignment wonderful?
Eboneé
Bka @theyrichauntie
Aka T-Neé
]]>I have felt like a failure for three hundred and sixty five days. Hell, if I'm being honest, I have felt like a failure for approximately five hundred and fifty three days. I have felt like a failure as a friend, girlfriend, sister, business owner/partner, best friend...I've just felt like a general human failure...Ha! I have felt like the prototype for all possible fuck ups in my relationships with people I love.
I have felt...that's the most interesting part here...I have felt so much these past 563 days. I think I turned off a select area of my feelings so that I can survive after my mama died. This period of my life has activated feelings I didn't know I had or was capable of feeling anymore. When you lose a parent, or in my case both parents, something shatters in you beyond repair (or so you think). When you lose a mother, your mother, your first & greatest love...my god, I don't wish that pain on my worst enemy. I don't necessarily have the words to describe it but this Mitch Albom quote resonated when I first read it.
“I hope you never hear those words. Your mom. She died. They are different than other words. They are too big to fit in your ears. They belong to some strange, heavy, powerful language that pounds away at the side of your head, a wrecking ball coming at you again and again, until finally, the words crack a hole large enough to fit inside your brain. And in so doing, they split you apart. ” Mitch Albom
Feeling like that, feeling broken and lost, was not a feeling I reveled in. I did not thrive in those feelings...or so I thought. Those feelings, I never wanted to feel them again. So I locked them up, shoved them down deep and swallowed the key. I prayed they would never bubble to the surface again without me seeing the signs and being able to to check them and put them back where they belong. I felt like I was tired of feeling the deepest feelings and so I didn't unless I could control them. Unless I could decide how they would shape my world.
I know you're wondering, what the eff is this girl talking about?. Welp, honestly I don't know but hopefully we'll both get there by the end of this.
I have felt like this past year has been the worst year since my mama died. Unexpected Trauma has bubbled up in my life over and over this past year. Y'all this past year was absolutely HORRIBLE. 😂 I'm not crazy, it's just my life has been so ridiculous you have to laugh to not cry every second. I have not felt like this in 13 years. I have not felt these feelings in 13 years. Whew chile, what a ride it has been.
Since the moment I turned 31 other peoples trauma and story has taken over my own. My not feeling the full bandwidth of my feelings for 13 years made it too easy for me to miss the signs of what was to come. The loss that would come raining down on my life yet again.
My not feeling the difficult feelings put me in a place where: I couldn't understand that the difficult feelings are okay, I couldn't understand that I don't have to fix someone else's feelings or pain, I couldn't understand healthy boundaries protect relationships, I couldn't understand that it's okay to feel the feelings and NOT regulate my environment to control everyone's feelings, I couldn't understand that some people need to feel the difficult feelings in order to keep them alive. I couldn't understand that the difficult feelings coupled with holding space just might save them. I couldn't understand and so I lost.
The life and love I was so secure with I lost. The family that I built after my mama died I lost. Who I thought was my soul mate I have lost...or so I think. The love that I gained I lost. I have lost what and who were most important to me.
No one talks about how difficult and painful it is to grieve the loss of non romantic relationships. Grieving the loss of friendships and sisterhood is a loss I never knew I would have to experience. No one talks about it so I guess I'm the one that needs to...
I have lost so much over the last 32 years. I have had to FIGHT for everything. I have had to fight to exist.
My birth parents left me in an abandoned building days after I was born. (Because of this I will likely never know my real birthday. August 10th was the date the doctors picked with when they brought me to a hospital after finding me. I guess picking birthday's for Jane Doe newborns was simple work back then 😕). My protector, my heart, my daddy, Howard died by the time I was 11. My mama, my heart, Ginny…died just after I turned 18. My life. My life has been a constant battle.
I have had to fight…I have had to fight for everything I have. Even before I knew it was a battle I was fighting. I was fighting to be aligned with the right family when my birth family left me. I was fighting to keep my mama alive when my daddy died. I was fighting to stay alive when my mama died.
I’ve fought to be worthy of family. Worthy of love. I have felt unworthy. I have felt unlovable. I’ve felt alone this past year. But I’ve fought. Because that's what I do. It's what I have always done.
I’ve fought to be a worthy daughter. A worthy sister. A worthy best friend. A worthy girlfriend. I’ve fought. I have fought. I have given everything GOOD in me when they might have actually deserved some of my worst. I’ve fought to be worthy of the people I love.
But on this 32nd trip around the sun, I’m deciding I’m done fighting. I’m done holding guilt. I’m done holding shame. I’m done being anything less than I am...anything less than what I'm meant to be. I'm done because I am worthy and that's a complete sentence. I am a worthy daughter, I am a worthy sister, I am a worthy best friend, I am a worthy girlfriend. I am a worthy business owner, I am a worthy cousin, I am a worthy colleague, I am a worthy auntie, I am a worthy friend, I am a worthy woman. I think I just forgot when the big & difficult feelings snuck up on me unexpectedly.
Yesterday, my birthday, was a beautiful day. It was a bright day. The brightest I've had in a while. This is all thanks to Lex & Evette. I am so grateful for them. There are not enough words in the dictionary. There are not enough metaphors in the universe. There is not a font, a script, a definition that could describe my love and admiration for them. There is not enough matter in this universe to describe what they’ve meant to me. What they mean to me. My soul sisters, they see all parts of me and don't waver, don't judge, don't shun.
They see all parts of me and even when I'm not my best self, they hold me up in the light of goodness so that I can hold myself accountable. That kind of love is unexpected, needed and precious. I love you both deep.
They have made me grateful for these trials. Grateful for this pain. Grateful for this loss.
I know that sounds nuts, but how can I be ready or prepared for the greatness that is in store for me if I am not able to appreciate the pain and confusion of my now? How will I know the good days from the bad if I don't stop to feel the difference? How?
They’ve made me feel so BIG when I’ve felt so small for days.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I am grateful. I am grateful. I am grateful.
I am loved. I am loved. I am loved.
I am seen. I am seen. I am seen.
I am worthy. I am worthy. I am worthy.
I have made it 32 trips around the sun and I think I’ve just started to get a real peek of me and all I can be.
My idea, Rich Auntie Energy made over $40K last year, & I wasn’t focused. I wasn’t ME. I wasn’t locked in. I wasn’t...
I'm imagining what I can do with focus. With knowing I'm worthy. With ME. With Lex and it’s inconceivable. It’s unconscionable. It is greater than me and you and everything.
I am Eboneé & the exciting part of my story is just getting started.
Thank you God. Thank you Universe. Thank you Mother. Thank you Father.
Thank you for all that is and all that will be.
Thank you.
This is 32 and it’s Real. Unfiltered. & Raw. It’s my Jordan year in reverse and I can't wait to see what's possible for me.
Watch me work.
Love, Light & Wealth,
T-Neé
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If you've felt how I've felt this past year or are feeling it now below are a few resources I've used to help me through the tough times.
Therapy
I am a huge advocate for therapy and prioritizing your mental health. There are resources & programs if your insurance doesn't cover therapy.
Books
Podcasts
Inspirational & Informative Instagram Pages (Follow all of these pages neeeooww! Trust me!)
Your Tribe
We all have one we just have to quiet our ego and open our hearts enough to be able to see and accept them.
Your Self
We all have everything that we need to live happy and full lives. We've had it all along. It just takes some love, reparenting self, and more love to see the gifts that we've had the whole time. Talk to yourself, do Mirror work, Shadow work if that's your thing, Pray, Yoga, Go to church if that's your thing, Meditation, Journal, Rest, Create routines, Practice Self Love & so much more.
The greatest resource
Is knowing that you don't need anything or anyone outside of yourself to fulfill you. You were born complete. You were created whole. Somewhere in our childhood we were groomed to forget that. To forget ourselves. Love yourself back to your fullness. It's worth it. You are worth it. You've got this. We've got this. 💜
]]>Juneteenth is not just a holiday, social movement or fad. Juneteenth is and has been an opportunity to educate and celebrate US.
Black people, African American people, Aboriginal people, beautiful people let’s relish in our power and celebrate ourselves on Juneteenth and every day.
VIEW PHOTOS OF THE EVENT ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE HERE.
Love, Light & Wealth
The Aunties
T-Neé & Auntie Lex
]]>How do you run a business when your life is an absolute mess? You listen to motivational talks, you buy every self-help book that comes across your phone, you drown yourself in affirmations in hopes you’ll believe them.
You tell yourself that everything that is meant for you won’t miss you…
]]>Family issues, relationship issues, inflation issues, apartment issues, and so on…very first world problemesque but I’m grateful and sick of this sh*t none the less.
How do you manage?
You listen to motivational talks, you buy every self-help book that comes across your phone, you drown yourself in affirmations in hopes you’ll believe them.
You tell yourself that everything that is meant for you won’t miss you…
You believe it. It’s always been true. Your life is an actual testimony to the fact. Abandoned when born, adopted by two angels, loss of one Angel at peak childhood, loss of my last Angel at the precipice of adulthood, loss after loss. Gain after gain. It ALWAYS works out.
What is so different now? Why does life feel harder? Why does every decision seem more weighted than the last?
Misinformation, miscommunication, change, ego, anxiety, depression, revelations, secrets, quietness, loudness, love, self talk, soul talks, avoidance of ego & demon talk, quietness, stability, openness, change, willingness, love, learning, unlearning, boundaries, healthy attachments, detaching from unhealthy attachments, love, confusion, hurt, sadness, happiness, confusion, want…and so on.
This year has been rough but not in the way past years have been. Hell, if I’m being honest last year was rough too. From top to bottom.
Now back to the title of this blog….How do you run a business when your life is a mess?
The quick and simple answer is…You Don’t.
Or in my case because I can’t seem to let go of my control issues & co-regulation issues…
You do your best when you can and rest when you can’t.
I’ve been asking myself one very specific question lately, “How can I show up for the people & things in my life when I don’t even show up for myself?”
I have shown up more for Rich Auntie Energy than I honestly ever thought possible…hell..more than I’ve shown up for myself if I’m being honest.
I’ve read so many books & articles, watched so many videos, listened to so many entrepreneurs, figured out what they do good & how I can do it better. In our first year we were featured in The Root & XoNecole. That’s big and amazing & I’ve never sat in that accomplishment. We went from a few hundred followers on social media to over 8,000 in 2 years. We took $500 each and turned it into a FIVE ($XX,XXX) FIGURE business that essentially sustains itself. I never thought or saw myself being a business owner. I never had the entrepreneurial spirit. But Rich Auntie Energy was different and has always been different. A different kind of calling and need…for me first and others second.
I’ve never sat in the weight of what I’ve helped to create. My first baby. My affirmation, my warrior cry, my calling, my life…me.
Rich Auntie Energy has never just been words on merch for me. It has been my identity for a long while now. Passed down to me from my Angel herself.
Maybe not in this specific set of words but the feelings and my existence now resembles what I know of my mama at this age. Sometimes I feel my importance in the lives of those around me has been tied to this affirmation.
Being the black, single (woof first time typing that in a while & it’s weird..confusing even), woman with no children is one of the most exhilarating and exhausting positions to hold in life.
When everything we celebrate about adult women is tied to our relation to a man…what else is left?
When society and family make you feel less than because of WHO you don’t have. You are kinda forced to either fall in line or pivot. No, I’m not being melodramatic…it is so strange being what others aren’t.
The comments from older family members about “when are you going to get a man to take care of you.” When you’ve been taking care of yourself for all of your adult life.
The comments from family & friends about “when you’re going to make them an auntie/uncle.” When you can’t think that far ahead because your thyroid issues might make conceiving harder than normal…When the thought of being a mother is so scary because you never got to talk to your mom about being a woman let alone a mother
The comments & their confusion is not your problem but it’s hard not to want to solve it.
It’s really hard to see how much people dislike you (there is heavy truth there but it’s ok) over things that are literally outside of you.
It’s almost impossible to not want to solve or fix this view they have of you.
We don’t have kids so what else better is there for us to do? (Please note how loud my sarcasm is here)
In my case I solved their confusion (and likely dislike) to my life by showing up the only way I could. Being the Rich Auntie…
I of course love the kids but that’s not the only part of it. The kids are the anchors that keep us seated in our position but it’s how we show up for and too everyone else that allows us the title. Being the motivational, grounded, “always there” friend and sister. Showing up…
How we show up for the babies is a given but how we support and show up for our friends, cousins, and sisters…there’s a lot more weight there that we don’t talk about.
Life has played out in a way where somewhere along the way I think I started to not feel good enough.
Rich Auntie Energy is my middle finger to that feeling. Cause f#ck that I am good enough. More than really.
I show up, I speak out, I speak life into those I love.
Again, I keep asking myself, “How can I show up for the people & things in my life when I don’t even show up for myself?”
My mom passed in 2009, just a little while after I turned 18, and for a while there I was living to make her proud.
That got weird quick because she isn’t here…and I think my actually making it past that first year after losing her should be enough
It got weird because you can’t live your life for someone that’s not even here. You can only live your life for you.
When I made that mental switch life got…interesting.
Goals I set, I achieved. Things I wanted I obtained. Jobs I wanted, I was hired. Raises & promotions I wanted, I was given.
None of that really was for me though. It was for my survival and my ego.
I didn’t have a mom or a dad to fall back on. It was all on me. My survival depended on me. How hard I worked, the relationships I made, the choices I made, the information I sought…ME. My survival was on my shoulders and that’s what pushed me and guided me for a while.
My ego was a motivating factor in there as well. I’m a black woman, a Leo and if you know me “I’m Eboneé”. That last one is a full sentence because IYKYK.
I show up, I push forward, I move the needle, I do what I never thought was possible, I do what I’ve never thought…
But still, How do you run a business when your life is an absolute mess?
You don’t because clearly you can’t. Cleary you don’t need to add another thing to your plate until you learn what’s meant to be on your plate and not.
You can’t run your business when you can barely get out of bed some days. You can’t run your business because your dog wants to go on a walk and you burst out crying calling yourself “bad mommy” because you can’t stop stressing about all the things and all the people that are outside of your control. You can’t run a business when you’re consistently battling imposter syndrome and that imposter b*tch been winning lately. You can’t run a business when you are struggling to run the business of your damn life. You can’t run a business when you’ve based the business off of yourself...your life. You can’t run a business when your business requires you to be your best and most authentic self.
You can’t run a business while adjusting to this new you…this new season.
Everything has changed, and yet I am more me than I have ever been. – Evie Essence
This quote has been the story of my life. My entire life has changed so much in the past two years and more recently.
In this season, I’m learning to give myself more grace. I give so much grace to others and in that I’ve adopted a habit of not seeing myself worthy of the same grace I preach.
But with therapy and a lot of soul talks, I’ve learned that my learned behaviors suited me at a time when I needed them to survive.
I’m not in survival mode anymore and it’s uncomfortable here. I have the job, the car, the salary, the benefits, etc. I have the stability and predictability that I prayed and worked hard as hell for the past 13 years.
But now that I have stability, my basic needs are met, I now have to figure out what’s next? Have to figure out what do I want? Not need but want…
In comes Rich Auntie Energy…
I wanted to build a community. I wanted to share these words that make me feel powerful. I wanted to share this affirmation that empowers me. I wanted to share space with women who have felt how I have felt in certain spaces. I wanted to share this…I wanted to share ME…with anyone who could see me.
So I keep asking myself, “How do you run a business when your life is a mess?” but I think I need to adjust my perspective, words and the intention behind them.
I think I should be allowing myself the space to sort through my life. It’s only a mess because I’ve unintentionally distracted myself from myself and my needs while focusing on others. It’s only a mess because I’ve allowed my life to happen to me and not for me.
So if my business is based off my life, and my life is in transition it only makes sense my business reflects where I am.
So here I am writing this blog at 3:00am and finishing it at 5:00pm. Adding to my planner to post this at 8:00p knowing I’m likely not going to do it.
Here I am..being me..being honest.
I don’t have any of this figured out…I’m just extremely blessed and I know it will all work out.
I can’t end this blog with the hustle, never stop grinding bullshit capitalistic mindset a lot of others would. I can’t tell you or myself to suck it up and keep pushing when I know somedays it's pretty impossible.
I can only say that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to have a few bad days so long as the goal is for the good to outweigh the bad. It’s okay to not have any of this shit figured out because that’s what we have the rest of our lives for.
It’s okay to not know how to run my business somedays. It’s okay because Good Day’s Eboneé is going to overcompensate so Bad Day’s Eboneé can rest a bit. Good Day's Eboneé makes a plan to outsource all the things I didn't have the energy to physically manage. Good Day's Eboneé automates social media. Good Day's Eboneé set's a plan and is okay if she can't stick to it.
If you’ve made it this far thank you. This was more for me than you but I’m going to share it anyway. This blog might be right on time for someone. Hell, someone might share the words, the quote, the video, the thing that get’s me out of this funk and makes it all clear.
Love, Light & Wealth,
T-Neé
]]>
I threw myself a Puppy Shower because I’m EXXtra.
I threw myself a Puppy Shower because I’m not having kids for the next 5 years or so, sooo...
I threw myself a Puppy Shower because this is a big deal for me.
I threw myself a Puppy Shower because...I deserve it.
But honestly, the more I think about it...it’s because I deserve to celebrate every ‘Big Little Moment'.
I deserve to celebrate every win.
Big or small.
I deserve to hold mySELF up in the light of goodness sometimes. All the time.
I threw myself a puppy shower because we deserve to be praised for something other than our bodies, uteruses, marital status and/or our relation to a man.
From a young age we’re groomed to look forward to the most important days of our lives...
Proposal, Wedding, Child Birth & Motherhood.
Somewhere along the way things change or become in flux and we’re looking forward to…
Having a man, Having a man that takes care of us, a Baby Shower, Child Birth, & Motherhood
And not to forget the proverbial National holiday…
Our Birthday, Birthday Month, and Birthday Season
But I don’t remember anyone telling me to celebrate making it to my 8:00a class in college.
I don’t remember anyone telling me to celebrate NOT tensing up when getting a Pap. iykyk
I don’t remember anyone telling me to celebrate getting my first apartment. I spent years after my mom passed living in others homes’. Finally being able to provide a home for myself for the first time in 7 years post her death...I should have celebrated.
At the end of the day...my Puppy Shower is a big F*#* you to toxic culture that we all feed into when we don’t celebrate our ‘Big Little Wins’.
When you don’t celebrate your raise or promotion. You’re doing yourself a disservice.
When you don’t celebrate fighting the urge to “Get gas in the morning”. You. Are. Doing. YOURSELF. A. Disservice.
When you don’t celebrate folding the clothes when they’re fresh out of the dryer. You’re doing yourself a disservice.
When you don’t celebrate that credit score increase or credit card pay off. You’re doing yourself a disservice.
When you don’t celebrate paying your student loans each month, let alone paying them OFF. YOU are doing yourself a disservice.
When you don’t celebrate making it to the gym. You’re doing yourself a disservice.
When you don’t celebrate loading and unloading the dishwasher...girl now you know.
When you don’t celebrate your work towards breaking generational curses in your family. You’re doing yourself a disservice.
When you don’t celebrate finishing only ONE bottle of wine after a long day…
When you don’t celebrate taking at least ONE moment for yourself after giving so much of yourself to others...
When you don’t GAS yourself tf up every morning.
You’re doing yourself a disservice.
Celebrate every ‘Big Little Win’.
Buying that bag you’ve been wanting for the longest
Getting a pet
Buying a plant and keeping it alive
Sticking to your budget
Buying a new car
Being an amazing Auntie
The hard work you do at your job
Applying for that LLC
Coming up with a business idea
Not turning your heat on when it’s 56 degrees outside
Celebrate every ‘Big Little Win’ Auntie.
You DESERVE IT.
Do yourself this service.
- T-Nee aka They Rich Auntie
]]>The messages and emails we receive from aunties after they’ve found our page or IG are unmatched.
These women are so grateful to us for creating a space where they feel seen and heard.
So many times women have messaged us and said how they DONT want to have kids & have always felt judgment for it.
So many women message us that they have ALWAYS wanted kids but health complications have recently made that impossible.
So many women message us that they have children BUT they want to be recognized for the love they have for the their nieces and nephews also. Their first babies…
Rich Aunties are not a monolith and are important and needed.
A selfie with a rich auntie t-shirt created a space for women to feel seen, heard, uplifted, and loved.
Making money is cool and just a part of the goal.
But these women. These aunties. They’re the reason I keep going when I want to quit. They’re the reason we will be greater than imaginable.
I am humbled and grateful for it all.
Rich Auntie Energy has always been more than shirts and merch.
This is an affirmation. This is a lifestyle.
To be a Rich Auntie is a blessing… to have Rich Auntie Energy is a calling.
Thank You to all the RAEs for answering the call.
- T-Nee
]]>I don’t know about y’all but when I think “rich auntie”, (hold up let’s put the capital respect on Rich Auntie), I think she can be both, either/or, OR neither.
ALL Rich Aunties have wealth, and SOME Rich Aunties don’t have little ones. Both are valid and should be affirmed as the dope a#$ Aunties they are.
I’ve slightly touched on this before in my previous Blog “Aunties” but let’s dig in (I hate when people say let’s “dig in” but here we go *inserts Super Mario voice*).
We here at RAE, T-Neé & Auntie Lex, think that Rich Aunties are aunties by relation or relationship. Single, Married or Minding Their Damn Business 💁🏾♀️.
The wealth that makes them “rich” isn’t limited to the monetary.
When I think about what makes a “Rich Auntie” rich, I reflect on the feeling I get when I think about the Rich Aunties I’ve been blessed to know.
The Rich Aunties of my childhood were single, married, dating, (minding their damn business) worked a 9-5p, sold Mary Kay or Avon, went to college, hustled to live the lifestyle they wanted directly out of H.S., and made fire Baked Macaroni and Sock it To Me Cake.
They wore their hair natural, pressed, relaxed, weaved, or braided.
They came to gatherings with their boyfriend, husband, best friend, kids (all my cousins and “cousins” ...iykyk) or by themselves.
They were always fly, even when they were running to the gas station. No, they did not wear bonnets or headscarves outside.
They “spoke well”, they spoke Ebonics, they spoke without talking.
From the lift of an eyebrow, to the smirk I just learned to master, to the way they filled a room…they spoke without speaking.
I’m not sure what qualities the Rich Aunties in your life hold but I know the Rich Aunties that groomed me, that I keep around me…have an aura that maintains a level of luxury based on their vibe alone.
Rich Aunties aren’t defined by monetary wealth (not that a hefty number of digits in a bank account hurts) but their wealth is bound to their knowledge, confidence, love, compassion, strength, and softness.
The fact that they know how to get money, AND SPEND MONEY, is just a measurable bonus on top of all the other indescribable qualities they possess.
It’s annoying that I even have to say this, but Rich Aunties aren’t defined by their uterus.
Whether they have children or choose not to.
Children help define your status on taxes NOT whether you have the Rich Auntie vibe.
When talking about Rich Auntie qualities, leave whether a woman has had their uterus occupied out of the conversation (and I say this as I have proudly been Team Captain of the #NoOccupyUterus brigade for 30 years).
To be a Rich Auntie is a blessing… to have Rich Auntie Energy is a calling.
What does this topic call out of you?
Ring off in the comments below or let us know your thoughts on our IG @richauntieenergy!
Yours Truly,
T-Neé
Auntie.
Auntie, Aunt, Tía, Te Te...
What does it mean to be an auntie to you?
Who are some of the most influential women in your life?
What qualities do they possess?
Are they strong, soft, resilient, respected, and wise?
Are they someone you can look up to? Someone you can confide in?
Are you related to these women? Have they been a mentor, a teacher, a coach, a friend?
.
.
.
To me, an auntie is all of these things and more.
Many of the women I've called auntie were actually my first cousins but they held me the same. Loved me the same.
I've had the aunties of friends "adopt" me...love me, nurture me, counsel me.
When I think about Rich Auntie Energy, I think about these women.
I think about all of the women who have taken me under their wing even in the slightest way.
I think about all of the women rich with knowledge, love, and compassion.
I think about all of the women who have fed me their knowledge, filled me with their love, and taught me compassion.
I think about the energy that comes from being in their presence.
When people ask what Rich Auntie Energy is, I tell them:
The Rich Auntie Energy lifestyle is for aunties by relation or relationship. Aunties young, grown, single, and married are welcome to be a part of our community.
Aunties who have children and those of us who don't. Aunties who want to share their knowledge, give their love and teach compassion & strength.
Aunties who have wealth and those that are manifesting it.
Aunties who know that wealth is more than the monetary.
Aunties who know their worth and add tax, interest and a service charge or two.
Rich Auntie Energy is many things to me and might be a few other things to you...and I hope so.
Rich Auntie Energy is bigger than me...than us.
R.A.E. is the women who raised us, the women who taught us, the women who protected us.
R.A.E. is the strength of an elephant, the softness of a petal, the warmth of a hug all wrapped up in the essence of the women who made us.
Rich Auntie Energy is you, me, and the women we are becoming.
I feel like these flowers.
I feel like I’m trying to absorb the water that is half of my life force but the water is tainted. Parts of me rise with the sun but other parts of me are so wilted and weak... it all seems hopeless.
My blackness, my culture, my melanin is half of my life force. The narrative the media paints of Black people and Black justice is tainted. The joy of my people, the resilience of my people, the love of my people is the other half of my life force and some of us are wilted, weak and feel hopeless right now.
We feel hopeless because we grow up internalizing and adjusting to seeing the destruction of our bodies and now the destruction of our homes.
If you feel like you’re living in a movie it’s because we are. We’re living in the re-boot of every Black film we’ve ever watched.
If we’re our ancestor’s wildest dreams we’re also living in their worst nightmare.
History is both amazing and annoying in that it truly does repeat itself. This is the same fight that Nat Turner fought. This is the same fight that Sojourner Truth fought. This is the same fight that Malcolm X fought. This is the same fight that Nelson Mandela fought. We walk the same roads that Martin Luther King Jr. walked. We attempt to educate our people the same as Frederick Douglass. The filter is just HD. The photos will be in color in the history books.
This is the same fight and like our ancestors, we are fed up. We are tired. We are angry.
Over 400 years of karma is being distributed and I can’t say I’m completely mad about it.
I’m not mad about the looting in downtown Chicago when I know the $23 million that was put towards the creation of the Bean (Cloud Gate - who tf calls it that anyway. It’s a damn silver jelly bean) would have been better served if invested into the South and West sides of Chicago.
I’m not mad about the looting of Target when Target has abandoned the Southside of Chicago.
I’m not mad about the vandalism that now defaces historic buildings in Chicago. Not when the history of those buildings is the blood, sweat and tears of my people embedded in the seamless marble and stone.
I’m not mad.
But I am pissed.
I’m pissed that they have siloed off Downtown and the Northside.
I’m pissed that I had to go to Griffith, Indiana to get groceries from Strack & Van Till (what the hell is that anyway? Tf is a Strack and a Van Till??).
I’m pissed that being able to make it to Indiana to get groceries is a privilege.
I’m pissed that people still don’t understand the intersectionality of these issues that have reached a peak.
I’m pissed that white people’s understanding of the value of Black Lives is conditional.
They understand the value of Black lives when our existence doesn’t inconvenience them. They understand the value of Black lives when we’re not in their neighborhoods asking them to join us in this fight for human rights. They understand the value of Black lives when we’re not interrupting baby Apple’s ‘Team UmiZoomi’ time.
They understand the value of Black lives when the conditions are just right. When they can pencil us in.
I’m pissed that white and Black people keep moving the goal post.
I’m pissed at people who are more upset about the destruction of material things than they are the desecration of Black bodies.
I’m pissed at people who are using classism to hide their racism.
I’m pissed that our Brown brothers and sisters are attacking us and were given carte blanche from racist Chicago policemen.
I’m so pissed about this it doesn’t make any sense. How idiotic are you for you not to see that we are fighting the same fight? How blind are you for you not to see that we come from the same bloodline? How do you not know that we the aboriginal people need to be unified at these times...at ALL times.
I’m pissed that so many Black businesses have been vandalized.
I’m also pissed that many of those Black businesses have only ever taken from the community and that their relationship with the communities they reside in are not equally yoked. (There are always outliers to the rule...so if it doesn’t apply let it fly.)
I’m pissed that so many Black businesses were not out protecting their investments but have the nerve to be angry with the Middle Eastern and Latino business owners for bearing arms and hunkering down.
I’m pissed because we are at war. I’m pissed because some of y’all don’t see that. Y’all don’t see that this is just one battle of many that have been fought and will be fought.
I’m pissed that so many Black people are using this time to inadvertently excuse the murder of Black people by the police by comparing it to Black on Black violence.
I’m mad pissed that we’re still using such a politically loaded term. A term that implies that there is something innate in Black bodies that makes us violent and makes us criminals. We act as though “white on white crime” doesn’t exist. As though white people aren’t the original terrorists.
I’m pissed that one of my best friends is white, an ally like no other, but yet most days I wake up and I hate her people.
I’m pissed that my brother is a police officer and women who I look up to like big sisters are police officers and they are villainized for the actions of their colleagues.
I’m pissed and I’m afraid for them. I want there to be more like them in the force. I want Black bodies to guard and protect Black bodies. I want them to not be the minority of the minorities in an organization that does not give them agency. I want….
I’m pissed that some of you are choosing to play the most asinine roles in the revolution.
I’m pissed because I don’t know my exact role in the revolution.
Maybe this is the starting point. Maybe admitting that I feel like these flowers, and that I’m pissed and that I don’t want my role in history to be insignificant is one step towards the part I’m supposed to play.
I’m most pissed because I don’t have the answers and the intersectionality of all of these issues is so large and complex that it feels impossible to even know where to begin with untangling this mess.
I find relief in knowing that there are so many Rich Aunties & Rich Uncles out there (I didn’t forget about the Uncles...wait on it.) that are just as pissed and just as willing to come together to at least start to figure out next steps. Even if those next steps are small I still feel as though it’s worth it.
The fight is worth it.
The anger is worth it.
Trust me that it’ll all be worth it in the end.
We protest for our nephews.
We protest for our sons.
We stand up for their futures.
This is Rich Auntie Energy.
Love,
T - Neé
]]>When a thought becomes a goal is a crazy process.
I remember sitting at Bar Louie's in Hyde Park, pre-COVID, (bows head in prayer...R.I.P) with Alexis joking about being a rich auntie but not using those exact words. I remember waking up a few weeks ago on some super spontaneous impulsive ish thinking "Hey, I'm going to design a T-Shirt". From that impulsivity came the OG Rich Auntie T-Shirt.
I took a bunch of pics (you know about 50 of the same pose, cause we gotta poke that hip right and suck that gut in) to post on IG & FB. I thought I was cute as hell that day too! Sis, I watched like 20 hours of box braid tutorials on YouTube, bought some 25-inch braid hair from Amazon (thanks Rona...got me risking it all buying some damn unseen braid hair praying it won't be SOS pad material), and got to it!
I had a decent social media response for a regular (but extra ass) post. And theennnn comes Alexis ass. The greatest hype woman to ever live. The young rich auntie that gases me up no matter what's happening. I swear I be pump 87 and she makes me feel pump 93 premium OK bayybeee! hahaha. Lex called me saying that we should make my Rich Auntie idea a thing. You know a brand...since it's already a lifestyle...my lifestyle. I was unconvinced and after further "hypage" ( I know that's not a word...don't be the grammar police we don't need your kind, I pay for Grammarly...don't ask why I KNOW :/) I was convinced and now.... it is 12:46a on May 25, 2020, and I'm writing the first blog because we're going to start following y'all on social media and we need for something to be on this damn website.
So I'm here putting my stream of consciousness on paper (Gmail drafts) hoping whoever reads this makes it this far and isn't totally annoyed with my sidebar conversations to myself....but meant for you. (Yeah, I'm not sure if it's the Titos and margarita mix or itis I'm feeling from the baked macaroni and sweet potatoes that got me this random.)
Blah! Well I think this is enough for a first blog, the prequel to blogs about actual subjects that make sense.
Gotta start somewhere...
Well we're here...me and Lex planning out the next shirt designs and contemplating investing in so many things for Rich Auntie Energy. In due time. Until then follow us on social media and tell a Rich Auntie to tell a Rich Auntie to join the lifestyle.
ok bye,
T- Neé
]]>One year ago today. 365 days ago I posted these photos.
Since then...
We got our LLC on May 27th 2020
We launched on Juneteenth - June 19, 2020
Had our 1st Annual Rich Auntie Juneteenth Bonfire
Had 22 Merch Drops
Had 12K website visits
Had over 17K Google Impressions
Reached over 180K people on FB
Reached over 185K people on Instagram
Went from about 100 IG followers to over 4K
Had over 700 units sold.
We were the highlight feature of an article in The Root.
We were featured in an article on @XoNecole.
We made in 3 months this year what we made in our first 6 months of being in business last year.
We started a business with less than $2000 and our business has been sustaining itself since 30 days after we launched.
I’m not saying all this to brag…trust me I’m not.
Because if I’m being honest these stats could be better and WILL BE this time a year from now. I just stopped reading a book about social media marketing so I can write this...
I’m trying to figure out how to convert that 180K reach to $DOLLAR$. So we can be millionaires several times over. But I’ll aim for the 12K site visit conversion FOR NOW because I know I can make a plan for that. I know what we have in store for RAE this summer and fall.
I know what’s destined. I know what’s been written because I wrote the check... I’m just waiting for the sign to pencil in the date.
I’m saying this so that whoever is thinking about starting a business can STOP 🛑 THINKING and DO IT.
I designed a sweatshirt. I took pictures in a sweatshirt. A had a few dozen people show interest. I developed and redeveloped and redeveloped a social media campaign in a pandemic with no real clue what the hell I was doing. I STILL don’t know what the hell I’m doing. Google, YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram University taught me.
I stepped out on faith.
I banked on the thought that there are so many women out there like me. So many women looking for recognition in a world that doesn’t truly recognize women outside of the functions of their uterus and their marital status.
I made a choice to recognize the women that no one brags about. The women that don’t get a Hallmark section. The women whose contributions to the mental, emotion and spiritual growth of the next generation go unnoticed.
While making that choice I was met by the women who do have the Hallmark section. The women who are married. The women who birthed the next generation. The women who TOO want praise for the space they hold for their nieces and nephews.
I made a decision to praise these women. All of these women. And most importantly to praise myself. I may not be the greatest but if I can make my nieces & nephews proud. If I can elevate them...I AM the greatest.
Rich Auntie Energy is coming up on a year. My baby RAE is about to turn 1 year old and I’m so grateful that I was chosen to help elevate this movement that is bigger than me. To help give flowers to all the Rich Aunties that deserve their flowers and more. ⚡️
I’m so grateful for every like, comment, boost, purchase, view, imposters, hell even the complaints. I’m grateful for the process. Grateful for it ALL.
When I look back on this one year, five years, 20 years from now…I wonder if I’ll be crying tears of joy like I am now?
Yours,
T-Neé
]]>Breonna.
Breonna Taylor.
Breonna was a daughter.
Breonna was a sister.
Breonna was an Auntie just like us.
Breonna was a woman just like us.
Breonna was a BLACK WOMAN like many of us.
Breonna was goal-oriented.
Breonna was building the future she wanted.
Breonna was in love.
Breonna was loved.
Breonna was 26.
Breonna was Twenty-Six.
Breonna was Twenty-Six Years Old.
Breonna had only lived a quarter of the life that was possible for her.
Breonna was murdered.
Breonna was killed.
Breonna was...
We should not be saying Breonna was...
Breonna is your MOTHER...
Breonna is your SISTER...
Breonna is your AUNTIE...
Breonna is YOU...
Breonna is ME...
Breonna is all of us...
At what point is enough, enough?
At what point is Justice & Equity given to Black bodies?
At what point put will our optimism not be in vain?
At what point will they stop dehumanizing Black bodies?
At what point will Black Women matter?
At what point...
Breonna...Breonna Taylor
I'll tell my children about you...
I'll tell my children about the year 2020 when the world stood up and burned and your name was written across the embers...
Breonna
We're sorry...and we won't stop fighting for you.
- T-Neé
]]>