Meet Heather Young and Chauncey Woods | Founders of So She Slays and Slay AF Creative Studio

We had the good fortune of connecting with Heather Young and Chauncey Woods of So She Slays and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heather and Chauncey, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind our success would definitely be our audience and just remembering what it is that brought people to us in the first place. So She Slays was born out of a need for underrepresented voices to be heard and for people to feel like they are seen. We like to provide an unfiltered experience to life so that people know that they aren’t alone in whatever life throws at them. It’s also important that people know and are encouraged to go after the life they want to create for themselves. We like to provide funny, relatable, and inspirational messages on our social media platforms, podcast episodes, and on our editorial site to support everyone in our audience. You can think of us as your best friends or sisters who tell it to you like it is with love.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
We never imagined that So She Slays would be what it is today, so to say whether it was easy or hard isn’t something that we think about because we never expected to be where we are in the first place. We started So She Slays over some tacos and sangria at our favorite Mexican restaurant in San Francisco. Being best friends, we were confiding in each other about life and how we felt like our stories as women of color weren’t being told in an authentic way, so we decided to change that. So She Slays was first just a blog, and then two years into it, the Me Too movement happened, and our Instagram went viral. From then on, we expanded our social media audience to around 700,000, added two podcasts, and built out our editorial site.

There were so many lessons in business that we learned along the way that we never would’ve thought of. Contracts being one of them, we highly recommend contracts. That was definitely one thing in the beginning we didn’t think about but wish we had.

Through the success of So She Slays, we had the opportunity to work with many different brands. We would work to develop, manage, and create campaigns for our collaborations. After a few years of doing this, we realized what we were doing was actually a business. This sparked the birth of Slay AF Creative Studio, our digital marketing agency, and the sister company to So She Slays.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would have to recommend checking out the Arts District. There are so many great places to eat and grab a drink, and it’s all pretty much walking distance from each other, so if bar hopping sounds interesting, this could be an option. Death and Co. requires a reservation but it’s such a great speakeasy kind of vibe. There are also rooftops and fun breweries, all within walking distance from each other. There are also some great Art Galleries around the area. You could also check out Little Tokoyo while you down in the Arts District it’s so close to each other, lots of fun tourist things to do, and of course, great food! We highly recommend going to the Academy of Motion Picture Museum you could easily spend four to five hours there.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people who have helped us out along the way and who have been incredibly supportive. One, we have to shout out our So She Slays audience because, without them, there would not be us. We have to shout out our team because when we first started this journey, we had no idea it would take us to all the places it has, and we absolutely could not have done it without them. It’s been so powerful to see how other women reach out and how we can help each other whether it’s business, a collaboration, or just getting to know each other and building out a network. We are honored to receive the type of love and support we do. Last but certainly not least, our friends and our family are key players in helping us turn So She Slays into what it is today and launch our sister company, Slay AF Creative Studio. A women of color founded and led digital marketing agency that specializes in social media and all the creative aspects of marketing.

Website: https://www.sosheslays.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sosheslays/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sosheslays

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sosheslays1276/featured

Other: https://www.slayafcreativestudio.com/

Image Credits
Devon Odom