I met Tasha through an email. I posted a photo on our Instagram to start the search for “Captivating Women of 2016”. Tasha, boldly sent her email. I instantly was in awe and captivated by her. You’ll read her story and learn what she does. She’s amazing, talented, and her own girl boss. We are excited to share Tasha with you! Everyone, please meet Tasha Branham.

Question: Where do you live & how old are you?
Answer: I am 35 years old and I live in Columbus, Ohio.

Q: What do you do for a living?
A: I am the CEO of Naturally Smitten (@naturallysmitten) which is a line of natural products that I developed. We are currently in select Walmart stores nationwide. Our products can also be found abroad in France, the UK, and Australia. I am also the Co-Founder of The Grapevine Box (@thegrapevinebox). The Grapevine Box is a monthly subscription service that introduces new and emerging brands to consumers. I am also a consultant for businesses and ministries. I work as a brand strategist in helping companies implement social media efforts to speak to and attract their target audience.

Q: What three words describe you?
A: Encourager. Creative. Worshipper.

Q: Give us a day in the life of Tasha.
A: My day starts at 6am. I have two sons and I make sure that they are up and ready for school. Once the boys are gone for the day, I use my initial alone time for prayer, worship and intercession. It helps me to set the tone for my day. Being a CEO and having so many things going at once, my days can be rather unpredictable. I find that if I enter His presence early, He can carry me through my day.

After prayer time, I make my to-do list. This list helps me to stay on task. As a creative, its easy to allow your creative mode to drive your day, and before you know it, you didn’t make it to any other task on your to-do list because you spent too much time in creative land!

My to-do list is followed with responding to emails, sending emails, checking our social media, planning posts for the day, and any order fulfillment. I also devote a lot of time in conducting research and brand analysis for some of the brands I work with. I also live for meetings! I have meetings and conference calls every day of the week. Sometimes, I’ll have meetings that run all day or they’ll be scheduled back, to back, to back.

Once my boys are home from school, I have to put the mom and wife hat back on while I simultaneously work. As a CEO, your work never really ends. It may just slightly pause until you have to pick it back up.

My evenings are typically jam packed as well. I will schedule in family time with my husband and kids as much as we can. My husband and I are also Co-Pastors of Advance Church Columbus. During the evening is typically when I will schedule in mentorship time with women that I am mentoring. Our church has a discipleship model and my husband and I spend time throughout our week conducting one on one time with some of the members of our church.

Q: What is the favorite part of your job(s)?
A: My favorite part of my job is inspiring others. God has blessed me in a way that has given me the opportunity to inspire other people to chase after God and to pursue the dreams/desires He’s given them. That is the thing I am most passionate about. I absolutely love to encourage women to pursue their passions.

Q: Do you ever feel disqualified?
A: Absolutely! When I share with people my journey to Walmart, I always tell them about how we made it on shelf with absolutely no money. It was a faith walk from the very beginning. Since then, I’ve had to believe God even more. Walmart wasn’t the end! Its been a huge test for me and people have often looked up to me as one that has great faith. I actually have struggled with fear and doubt often. I’m always encouraging others in their faith when my faith wavers. It’s easy for me to allow my bouts with fear to make me feel like I am disqualified to receive God’s blessings and to be an inspiration to others when I don’t have it all together!

Q: What is the biggest thing you’ve learned on your journey?
A: I learned that if we place limitations on God, that it limits Him moving in your life. I used to dream but I dreamt small. The things I prayed about and asked God for were small in comparison to His purpose for my life. When I would pray concerning the desires of my heart, He would move. I would get a new job or a new opportunity, etc but I wasn’t fulfilled. I began to seek Him to learn more about what His plans were for my life. Once He began to speak, I was able to see just how great His desires were for me. So…I began to dream a little bigger. And a little bigger. And a little bigger. I had to learn that there is no-thing that is too hard for the One who created the earth and the heavens in six days. Who else can compare to that? No one! I began to allow Him to woo me in my relationship with Him. I became hopelessly lovestruck and now, there’s nothing I won’t do for Him. I took God out of the neat little box I had placed Him in and I am now living my dream as they unfold on by one. I am so fulfilled knowing that I am doing His work and that I am positively impacting the lives of others!

Q: Favorite verse?
A: Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Q: What makes a Captivating Woman?
A: I believe a Captivating Woman is a woman that has the ability to impact and positively change the lives of other women. Her life is one to be inspired by. Her relationship with God is a source of encouragement. She is modest, caring, and walking in God’s unwavering love. A Captivating Woman displays the fruit of God’s Spirit in every area of her life.

Q: Favorite story in the Bible?
A: I enjoy most of the Old Testament! It’s so hard to choose. I’d say that my favorite read is when the Children of Israel were delivered from their captors in Egypt and lead into their promised land. There are so many life lessons throughout their journey!

Q: Who are some Captivating Women in your life that we need to know about?
A: My friend Lena. I love Lena. I really do. She is so creative and such an inspiration! If you met her, you’d love her just as much as I do! She is the Founder of Farmhouse Frocks (@farmhousefrocks) and to me, she’s a walking model of faith!

Naturally Smitten:

I first met Jessi through her Etsy shop Luminous Light Studio. I was going through a bit of a rough patch and was obsessed with Bethel’s You Make Me Brave album, especially “It Is Well”. I love the song as a whole, but the end of the song says:

“So let go my soul and trust in Him, the waves and wind still know His name.”

It struck such a chord in me and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I briefly considered tattooing it on my body, and upon further reflection, decided Etsy was probably a better option. I typed the lyrics into the search bar, and only one shop showed up – you guessed it – Luminous Light Studio. After a couple of days emailing back and forth about some personalization I was wanting, I found her website http://luminouslightstudio.com and fell in love with her work, her mission and the way she brings light into the dark. She graciously agreed to Skype with me and be interviewed for TCW.

Hannah: Hi! Thank you so much again for being willing to do this – I’m so excited! So first off, why don’t you introduce yourself? Who are you, where are you and what do you do with your life?
Jessi: Hi! My name is Jessi Snapp. I currently live in Indiana, I’m 27 and a full-time student and stay at home mom. I’m studying social work, and I finish this year. I own Luminous Light Studio and I’m a contributing writer for All That Love Can Do and as of October, I’m writing for Still Standing Magazine.

H: That’s so much! I’m so impressed that are managing school on top of everything else, and hooray for graduation being so close! Tell me about your family?
J: My husband and I have our son Ezra, who is 6 and Silas, who is in heaven.

H: That segues kind of perfectly into the next question. Tell me about your Etsy shop and how all of that got started?
J: Sure. The shop started in May. After losing Silas in August of 2014, I got involved in a community of women who had also lost babies to Tris, and it really became like a sisterhood to me. I started to paint their babies names in these watercolor memorials, and send them out to the families, hoping that I could bring even a little bit of a light to a dark situation. Eventually it got to a point where it was so expensive to keep sending them out for free that I didn’t know how I was going to keep doing it. Then we started the Etsy shop and a portion of our proceeds go to sending the paintings to the families who have lost their babies, free of charge.

H: That is so incredible. I read the story on the blog, so I knew a lot of that coming in to this, but to hear you tell it. So powerful. So on to a bit more frivolous question. If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?
J: Ah. That’s so hard to answer. If I could travel anywhere, I’d pick Heaven for a day. But within the realm of possibility, I’d have to say Australia.

H: Do you know any Captivating Women?
J: Yes! Rachel at The Heart Magazine is definitely who I think of when I think of Captivating Women. Her magazine is beautiful and celebrates women being real and honest about their own lives – the joys, the loss and the everyday things. Another is Carly Marie Dudley in Perth, AU. She does these really incredible sunset photos with babies names written in the sand. I have one for Silas, and I treasure it. Her website is full of beautiful art and you can follow her on Instagram @carlymariedudley. Also RaeAnne Frederickson – because she is amazing. She runs two support communities: one for parents who continue their pregnancies despite a fatal diagnosis and another for mothers living childless after loss. She lost her son Samuel & yet she finds it in her heart to support others. She is pure gold! And Lexi Behrndt of Scribbles & Crumbs. She writes avidly on large platforms about grief & loss. She is one of those beautiful souls who has a way with words and instills hope into the broken. She has quickly become a voice for so many. She also runs The Charlie Sawyer Project, which is a beautiful place for bereaved parents to share their children’s stories.

H: They sound like absolutely incredible women! It’s so cool to me the ways that people like these ladies are making the world brighter by utilizing their own gifts in such unique ways. Okay, so if you say anything to a 10 years younger version of you, what would you say?
J: That no matter what you face, there is always hope to be found. You can always find joy, even in the darkest of times.

H: I love that. It’s so true. What is your favorite goofy ritual or thing that you treasure doing with Ezra?
J: laughs He is such a silly little guy, that I think there could be a fairly long list there. One thing we are always doing: we love to scare each other, so we will both hide in the house and pop out and try and scare the other one.

H: That’s so precious! I love those kinds of traditions!! So the last of my silly questions, do you with all of your free time that you don’t have, have any favorite TV shows?
J: TV is a guilty pleasure of mine actually. I’m always doing other things while watching TV, but I love to watch it when I can. My husband and I love to watch Game of Thrones, it’s kind of our Sunday tradition, and we get really into it

H: I totally understand that. Leslie Knope is my spirit animal on so many levels and I’m still way too emotionally invested in Parks and Rec.
J: Oh! I love that show too.

At this point I hear a consistent knocking at the door to her office, and she calls out to Ezra that she’ll be finished in just a minute and then she will be free to play checkers with him. At the time, it made me giggle because he sounds like a really wonderful little guy, but the more I thought about it, the more that highlighted my impression of Jessi in general. Willing to take time out of a very full schedule and a very busy life to get to know the stories of others and share herself and her story in an attempt to let people know they aren’t alone in their grief and struggle. She has since published articles online with Huffington Post and Good Housekeeping, and is really wonderful each time at being very real and vulnerable without trying to sugar coat it or giving into hopelessness. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone turn grief into such a thing of raw, honest beauty. Please check out her website at http://luminouslightstudio.com.