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Thamarr Guerrier started her blog nearly a decade ago as a way to keep herself entertained on lunch breaks. She was a nurse at the time, and the demands of the job had her searching for an outlet to talk about the things she loved — style, beauty, wellness, and life. Thamarr has a knack for creating the content she wanted to see in the space, but no one was doing it. So, as she says, Thamarr decided to become her own light.
Thamarr recently took her blog “Musings of a Curvy Lady” and workfluencer side-hustle to full-time status, and I am so eager to hear how that transition has felt for her. We’re digging into how she knew she was ready for full-time, the mindset blocks that came with a pivot out of her nursing career, and her advice for other women waiting to shine and become their own light. I’ve followed her for years, so I’m excited to have her on Goal Digger.
Where Her Story Begins
Thamarr Guerrier’s career was following the path she’d always imagined for herself. “I grew up, you know, academics were really important to get a secure job. That’s how you were going to find success, stable success, I should say,” she continued, “I’m first generation American. My parents are both from Haiti. So I thought working at this top hospital, on this amazing floor with this amazing team, was it.”
Thamarr was a team player, wanting to do everything for everyone, and that led to rapid burnout and even panic attacks as she walked into the hospital for her shift.
She told me, “I remember on my lunch break, just I’m like, I wanna do something fun. I’ve always loved style and fashion. And I was like, I think I want to start a blog. I remember telling my coworkers I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to do this, but I’m going to do it. And that’s how it started.”
Side Hustle to Full-Time
Her blog and brand grew over time, but Thamarr didn’t see it as a career path at first. She had her place in the world as a nurse and she just happened to have a really cool side hustle. But the blog reached a pivotal point, “I started to feel like my content just was at another level where I felt like I could be doing this full time.”
She explained, “In the last two years, my mind, my brain, my perspective started to change because I stopped treating it as a side hustle. And I think that’s my biggest regret for treating it as a side hustle for so long and not seeing the potential that everyone else could see. Brands and all these people, all my friends in the industry, they could see it, but I couldn’t see it.”
“I couldn’t let go of nursing. How could I let go of something that I worked so hard for? I was still paying loans for school. How can I let this go?” Thamarr continued, “I don’t have the typical influencer story. I think that that held me back because I don’t come from any generational wealth or how to start a business.”
After a conversation with her boyfriend and chatting with her photographer, she had the realization that if her creativity wasn’t stifled by the stress of maintaining her day job, she could do even more of the things she loved with her blog and brand. She told me, “When I started to truly believe and see myself as an entrepreneur, as a full-time influencer, that’s when everything else just fell into place.”
Thamarr resigned from her nursing job in March of 2021, and she says, “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
You Can Do It
Thamarr’s journey to full-time entrepreneurship was not an easy one, and her personal life was often in conflict and contrast to her professional life. What she said about finding success and making your dreams come true was so powerful.
“I’m getting emotional because I truly believe that if I can do it, you can do it. And you truly have to just lean into the discomfort. Every bad day has a cutoff time and you have survived so many bad days already. So you can do it.” She continued, “You can do more and you can survive and thrive and have wonderful success. Even in times of heartache, even in times when the whole world was dying, the whole world was so divided, everything hurt. And yet I felt like, wow, I can’t wait another moment. I have to do it.”
“It’s more than just belief and a feeling you have, you have to change your definition of how you’re going to make your dreams come true. It’s not going to be perfect. It’s not going to be smooth. It’s going to be hard, but it can still happen.”
More from Thamar Guerrier
Thamarr shares the pressure and difficult conversations she had with her parents as she decided to pivot her career into the blogging space full-time, the expectations placed on first-generation immigrant children, and the contrast between the challenges in her personal life compared to the success in her professional life. This conversation is all-at-once heartwarming, funny, and tearjerking. You’ll love hearing Thamarr’s journey from nurse to full-time blogger.
Follow Thamarr on Instagram @musingsofacurvylady and online at musingsofacurvylady.com.
Omg!! I loved this episode so much! I am also a nurse attempting to be a creative entrepreneur. There are no words for the level of burnout I feel as a nurse right now and would love nothing more than to walk out the door today… my business just isn’t there yet. Your words were so incredibly inspiring!! Thank you!