Meet Tanya White of Tanya Lynett Enterprises in Central

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tanya White.

Tanya, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I graduated high school from a small farm town in CA called Tulare. A month after I graduated, I moved straight to Los Angeles to attend FIDM (The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising). I received my AA and also my Bachelor of Science in Business Management. While I was attending college to get my AA I was working part-time in retail and enjoyed helping customers find that right outfit. 

My career goal was to be the CEO/Owner of my own chain of retail stores. So I wanted to gain as much knowledge as I could from working with great companies and to make my mistakes on someone else’s dime. While I was getting my bachelor’s I was working for Ed Hardy Shoes and really grew in the industry. I started off as a marketing assistant, then moved to production, then sales assistant, and ended as a sales executive. By then, I knew the ins and outs of the creation of a product to consumer. I eventually left Ed Hardy and worked for ACI.

ACI produced shoes and owned LA Gear, and designed for stores like Target and Walmart. I worked there for two years and felt like I reached my peak. I was going into work almost an hour late, taking two-hour lunch breaks, and leaving early. I was getting my work done within 2 hrs and was spending the rest of my time either reading business books or playing Angry birds. I was really unhappy and wasn’t reaching my potential.

While I was working at Ed Hardy Shoes, I accumulated over 200 pairs since I was the sample size. Once I started working at ACI I relocated and had to get a small place and my shoes didn’t fit. I decided to start selling them on eBay and was blown away by how much I was making! So I figured that I could possibly start selling items from my closet to raise money to start my own business. Eventually, I had six months’ worth of salary saved up and decided to quit my full-time job and start my business of reselling. How much could I really make if I put 100% of my time into it. I have been a reseller for seven years now. I started selling on eBay then added Poshmark, Tradesy, Depop, TheRealReal, Mercari. and Thredup to my lineup. I currently have approx. 273,000 followers on Poshmark.

In 2019 I was asked to speak at Posh Live for Poshmark and was selected to speak at Poshfest with an attendance of 1,600 people. It was incredible to be able to share my experience with others and give them advice that I wish I knew back then and also let people know that you work at your own speed and don’t feel pressured by social media.

I have also turned my hobby of gaming into a part-time gig. I stream video games on Twitch and make about an additional 1k a month in subscriptions and donations. I mainly play FPS games (first-person shooter) like Call Of Duty, Destiny, and PUBG. One of my clips of PUBG went viral and reached 33 million views on YouTube

I just feel so lucky to be able to say, I sell clothes and play video games, this is my life. I work as hard as can because if I don’t work, I don’t eat. I only have one life to live and I want to make sure it’s a happy one.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Once I decided to leave my full-time job, there were long hours of listing items, photographing, and sourcing. I missed many family events because I needed to meet sales goals. Most of my family understand but others didn’t. Being able to put that aside and focus on my life goals is what keeps me going.

I decided to start a clothing line with my boyfriend a few years ago called, Berserk Apparel. When we decided to start this journey, we knew that it meant we would have to put what we saved all in. So we decided to move in with my mother to lessen the burn of high LA rent fees. Unfortunately, we hit a wall with our marketing budget and the line was put on hold. I do hope to one day come back to Berserk Apparel because I just loved the quality of the hats and socks we created,

Please tell us about Tanya Lynett Enterprises.
Tanya Lynett Enterprises mainly works with reselling women’s fashion online to sites like eBay, Poshmark, and Mercari. Later this year I will be expanding to content creator on Twitch as the following increases.

I am a product that I can offer fashion at an affordable price. Having worked in the fashion industry and knowing how overpriced everything is, I could never pay full retail for something. I feel like everyone should be able to enjoy the luxury of Louis Vuitton at something more realistic. Maybe some items have more damage than others but fashion is worth rescuing.

In the world of gaming, there aren’t many TRUE female gamers. When I say “true” I mean that they are there for the love of the game. I am able to bring my authentic self and make friends while I’m playing video games. I don’t have to feel weird about being a female that LOVES video games. There’s a community that I have created that shares the love of the game with me and we all play together five nights a week.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I could do it all over again, I would have said yes to a larger inventory. I was scared to buy large bulk when opportunities arose because I wasn’t used to spending so much money. Larger inventory means a larger return.

Pricing:

• $4.99 subscription to Twitch

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tanyalynett/
• Twitter: https://www.ebay.com/usr/tanyalynett
• Yelp: https://poshmark.com/closet/tanyalynett
• Other: www.twitch.tv/Tanyalynett

Image Credit:
@TanyaLynett

Suggest a story: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.