Living Life Happy, Allyson Marie Leak

“I don’t believe in titles…I am a student of life.”  This student is Ally Marie Leak and according to her list of accomplishments, she has learned very well.  She is the CEO and founder of She-blogs.com and Allymarie.com; a beautiful jewelry line that caters to the joyous diva in you.

Aside from her success as an entrepreneur, this twenty-something year old woman is an accomplished journalist with over 100 published articles.  She has appeared on the hit show “Run’s House” helping Angela Simmons create her magazine and is currently the career editor for Honey Magazine. Her jewelry has been worn by celebrities such as Alicia Keys and Estelle, but who is Allyson Leak?  Her motivation, faith and dedication to her craft serve as an inspiration to anyone who wants to turn their dream into a reality.  I am so pleased to feature this amazing young woman on Soulreflectionz as she allowed me to gain an in depth look of the woman behind the success.

RD: Why is woman empowerment so important to you?

Ally: I think that empowering women is such a passion for me because I really do believe that one of my purposes here on earth is to give back to other people. I have been blessed at such a young age to come into my own, know who I am and just develop this spiritual foundation with myself and with this world. I am so happy and when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do a blog about I was like,  “oh my gosh I wish I could share this happiness with other women.”  I really wanted to make them feel the same way I did. I was inspired to do a blog that would inspire women to reach for their dreams and to be happy, but to also show them that if you can create this sacred foundation with yourself then you can be happy in all aspects of your life.

RD: Why did you decide to do a blog instead of an online/print magazine?

Ally: When I was at Temple University my friend Kelly and I decided we wanted to start a magazine that was a woman’s empowerment collegiate magazine. I was the editor in chief and fashion director.  We did 2 issues. When I wanted to start the blog I was thinking of a name and my mom suggested that I name it She-blogs because I had She magazine at Temple. They are affiliated a little bit I guess, but I don’t look at She magazine as a direct extension of She-blogs. I would like to turn She-blogs into a media company one day with a print magazine, still continue the blog and have a TV show. I would like for all of them to have the same premise of woman’s empowerment, positivity, growth and moving forward.

RD: You majored in broadcast journalism at Temple.  Why did you decide to do print and not be in front of the camera?

Ally: A lot of the people I went to school with were interested in being newscasters, but I didn’t want to be one because I barely watch the news now.  It’s very depressing and I didn’t want to deal with it.  Originally, I was a print major and then I switched to broadcast. Within the last year I have really wanted to get back into the TV stuff.   I would love to do TV hosting.  I’m looking into it now.  It still has a place in my heart, but at the time I was drawn to the print world.

RD: How did you turn your passion into profit (AllyMarie.com)?

Ally: When I was 7 I started making jewelry.  Some of them would be clay beads and earrings and some would be sequin earrings.  They would be literally a hook and a sequin.  I would tell my mom to take them to work and sell it for 25 dollars when it was actually worth 50 cents.  I found out later that she would buy all of it herself, but she would come home and say people bought my stuff.  My face would light up because I would be so excited.  I used to get in trouble because I would go into my grandmother’s room when she wasn’t home and I would tell my cousin that we were finding treasures.  We would find these “treasures” in her room and by the time she got home I would have set up a table outside of her house selling her stuff.   I always had an entrepreneurial spirit of wanting to sell something or have a business.  When I was at Temple I made dresses, participated in all of the fashion shows and did photo shoots. It wasn’t until my senior year that I realized that I had a passion for accessories.   I just knew I would love to have a jewelry line one day.  A year after graduation I started working for Hype Hair magazine.  I was there for 2 years and going into my second year I realized I really want to start my own business.  I quit my job, went into a bead store and bought all the things that looked pretty.  Through trial and error I made my entire jewelry line in 2 weeks.  I designed my line, moved back to DC for 4 months and got my LLC. I was learning along the way and  all I knew was that I wanted to do something and no one was going to stop me. I started working on my website and after everything was done I moved back to NY and started looking for jobs. I started doing a couple of jewelry shows and I eventually got into a boutique on the lower east side of Manhattan and another boutique in Williamsburg in Brooklyn.  That’s the journey. For me it was literally a lot of sleepless nights.  One of the best things that my mom told me was to stop doing a million things and to focus on my jewelry so that it actually gets quality attention.  When I did that things started to flourish.

RD: How did you get to the level you are at right now in the magazine industry?

Ally: When I first moved to NY after college I was looking for a job.  I was just very focused and driven.  I sent out over 700 emails for jobs.  I got an interview at O magazine, Entertainment Weekly and at a magazine called Surface. I got some good interviews, but I didn’t get any of the jobs.  Every time I didn’t get a job I said to myself, “the right job is coming.”  Instead of getting more and more depressed I got excited.  I learned what I could improve on after every interview.  I went to this Essence magazine event and of course I was talking to everyone in line because I was always networking. I met this girl in front of me and at the time she worked for Black Men’s magazine.  Black Men’s and Hype Hair have the same publisher.  3 days after I met her she hit me up and said the Editor-in-Chief of Hype Hair was looking for an editorial assistant. I met Adrienne Moore whose the Editor-in-Chief of Hype Hair.  She loved me and gave me the job.  It was a blessing because if I was at a bigger magazine I would have been getting coffee, but because I was at a hair and beauty magazine with a smaller staff I was writing right away.  I had published articles right after school.  I always tell people that it doesn’t matter the quantity of the people that you know, but it’s about the quality of the relationship.  I have developed so many good relationships over the years.  All of these great people I would meet would look out for me and I would look out for them.  So that’s another way the writing opportunities kind of came along, even me being the current career editor for Honey magazine.

RD: Who are some of the women you look up to and what characteristics do you look for in a role model?

Ally: I definitely look up to my mother because of her strength and resilience through all of the things she has been through and the things we have experienced through our life together.  The second reason I look up to her is because my mother always sees the good in people. No matter how bad the situation may be she will find something positive to say about the person or the situation.  She always has a positive outlook about people and she’s got such as good heart. She has a genuine loving energy.  When it comes to a mentor I’m big on looking up to people after I have met them in person. I am good at picking up on people’s energy. It doesn’t matter how many MBA’s someone has or what they have done or if they work for Puffy.   I don’t care about all of that because at the end of the day they could be a jerk.  If I find someone that seems like a positive person, has genuine energy and is successful then I look up to them.  It has to be a combination of all these things.  Even with the women I feature on my blog, they are all people I have met or someone introduced me to them.  I want to promote good people.

RD:  What are some of the key points you like to touch on in your motivational speeches?

Ally: One thing that I think is important for people to understand is the importance of the foundation and the root.   To me one of the foundations of existence is sound.  I try to explain to people how important it is to use good words and affirmations towards yourself and really try to be as positive as you can even in the roughest situations.  You are helping to create your own reality.  If you complain about money, friends or not being in a relationship all the time  in essence you are proclaiming that you are a person of lack.  You will continue to not have these things because you are helping to create that reality with the things you are saying.  I tell people to try to reverse it. When you are having a bad day say something totally positive that you wouldn’t normally say on a bad day and watch how that  day turns around.

RD: When do you have time for Ally?

Ally: I don’t have enough time for Ally.  I don’t have a TV so this is what I do: 70% of the time I am working and the other 30% I read books I am interested in.  I make time to meditate and I journal when I’m inspired.  I make the time to do these things because I don’t watch TV.  I think anything in moderation is ok, but anything in excess you should look into it.  Addiction is not just with drugs, you can be addicted to anything like facebook, twitter or chocolate (like me). I think not watching TV helps a lot because after I work I make time to do other things I enjoy.

RD:  How has your faith helped to sustain you and keep you humble, especially with all of your achievements?

Ally: My faith and relationship with God is like the best thing that has ever happened to me. What inspired that relationship is my step brother committed suicide when I was in college.  It was life altering.  After that happened, I started asking myself questions like,  “what’s my purpose here?”  At the time I was going from church to church in Philadelphia and mentor to mentor.  I did this because here was this 17 year old kid and he committed suicide because life was so bad that he couldn’t handle it. It made me want to explore my spiritual side. I don’t consider myself a Christian just like I don’t consider myself a vegan even though I don’t eat meat and I barely eat dairy.  I don’t like titles.  I’m a student of life.  I believe in God, a higher power and guardian angels, but I also believe that I am God-expressed. I stopped looking so much outside of myself for God and realized that God was within.  There is this light in me that’s already been there from birth and I just had to realize it. My relationship with my highest self, which is God, has gotten me through so much.  I have been through a lot.  I have had great ups and downs.  Through my downs it’s because I can tap back into my source, this sacred relationship that I developed, and gets me through anything.  Anytime you doubt yourself it’s like you are doubting God.  This helped me in my career because I knew that every time I was doubting myself  I was doubting the power of God in me.

RD:  What are you working on right now?

Ally:  I am working on a clothing line but it is currently on hold.  With the clothing I didn’t have any formal training.  I never use patterns for my dresses. I go into the store, buy fabrics I like, come home and throw it on the floor. Then I look at the fabric on the floor and envision what I want to do and do it. Patterns stress me out because they’re too structured.  I have some ideas for a line of jackets I want to do.   I am trying to fine tune that along with my jewelry as I move forward.  Another project I’m working on is doing an art exhibit.  I have these drawings that I have done.  I usually draw something and then 2 weeks later I will learn about something or read about something that is in relation to what I drew. I have many of these drawings on my wall and I thought to myself, “ I am supposed to do an art exhibit.”  Instead of using paint I think I may do them all in rhinestones and then do an exhibit.  They are all very spiritual drawings and related to things I study and believe.

RD:  What about a book?

Ally: The book is almost finished, but there are pieces I feel need to be added.  As soon as that comes together I will start to shop it to publishers. What I usually will do is start something and if the inspiration gets put on hold or I feel something is missing then I just say I have to come back to this.

RD:  Do you have time for relationships?

Ally: I make time for people who are important.  Sometimes I think guys are a little intimidated with all the stuff I have going on.  The guys that are intimidated I don’t even want to date because I really want to date someone who is secure.  I don’t want to feel like I have to lower myself to be with them.  One thing about me is that I am busy, but I am not as busy as most people think I am.  If I meet someone that I like I will make time for them.  They will be a priority.  I don’t date that much, but I also don’t meet people that I’m that impressed with that often.  I do affirmations for the kind of man I want to meet.  I am declaring what I want to happen in a positive way.  I am the kind of girlfriend that would cook everyday for my boyfriend, but when I am done I will have a business meeting.  I can kind of handle both.  I want to find someone I can be happy with.

RD:  What is the legacy that you want to leave behind?

Ally: I want people to look back at my life and feel inspired to be happy.  Whether that means reaching for your dreams or developing more of your spiritual side, I want them to see my life and realize, “she really was free.”  I want them to say, “She decided to put fear on the back burner and just go with her heart and go with her dreams.  She was free flowing and not caught up on negativity.” I feel that kind of mentality can help to set people free from drama and stress. When you live your life free you are not concerned with what people think about your hair and outfit or what you’re doing. You just do what you want to do.  As long as it’s in good favor and no one is getting hurt I think that you can be really happy.  That is the legacy I want to leave behind.

Go here to read her wonderful blog: www.she-blogs.com
And go here to view and purchase her jewelry: www.Allymarie.com

Here is some of the beautiful jewelry she creates: