We’re looking forward to introducing you to Shania Thomas. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Shania, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
For me, it’s integrity—because without it, the other two don’t hold weight. You can be intelligent and still lack character. You can have all the energy in the world and still move in the wrong spirit. But integrity? That’s the foundation. It’s who you are when nobody’s watching, when there’s no applause, and when it costs you something to stay true.
Integrity is what keeps me aligned with God’s will. It’s what reminds me that success without character is still failure. I’ve learned that doors opened by talent will always close without integrity. I want to be the same woman in private that I am in public—the same one praying behind the scenes that people see smiling in public.
Intelligence helps me build, energy helps me move, but integrity keeps me grounded. It keeps me accountable to God, my family, and myself. And at the end of the day, I don’t just want to be known for what I do—I want to be remembered for how I lived.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Shania Thomas, and I’m a proud wife, mother of four, and a woman on a mission to empower, create, and inspire. I serve as the Creative Director of Gui’Shani, our family-owned brand built on legacy, love, and purpose. Gui’Shani offers everything from apparel to makeup products.
I’m also the Founder of the Empowered Queens Prayer Group, a growing community of women who come together to pray, heal, and grow spiritually, and the Co-Founder of Ignite Teen Ministry, where we create real, relevant, and faith-filled conversations that reach and transform the next generation.
In addition to ministry and entrepreneurship, I’m also the author of Empowered Queen: Rooted in Grace, a 30-day prayer journal that was birthed out of my own healing journey. It’s for every woman who’s ever had to pray her way through pain while still showing up in purpose. I’m currently working on my deeply personal poetry memoir titled “My Silence Has a Voice.” It’s a reflection of my journey—finding healing, identity, and power through faith and self-expression after years of feeling unseen or unheard.
Everything I do—whether in ministry, motherhood, or creative direction—is rooted in faith, family, and authenticity. My story is one of transformation, and my mission is to help others discover that even the parts of their story that once brought pain can be the very thing God uses to bring purpose.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The part of me that has served its purpose is the version of me that felt she had to play small to be accepted. For years, I carried silence like a shield—afraid to take up space, to speak too boldly, or to fully walk in who God called me to be. That version of me protected me when I didn’t know how to stand tall, but she can’t come with me into this new season.
I’m releasing the woman who needed validation to feel worthy, the one who dimmed her light to make others comfortable. She taught me strength, humility, and how to fight quietly—but now it’s time for me to live loudly, confidently, and unapologetically in purpose.
This next chapter requires my full voice, my full presence, and my full faith. The old me survived. The new me is ready to shine.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me what success never could—how to see and feel God in the dark. It stripped away the noise, the titles, and the illusion of control. It showed me that faith isn’t proven when life is easy, but when everything is falling apart and you still choose to trust Him anyway.
Success taught me how to celebrate, but suffering taught me how to surrender. It made me face myself—the unhealed places, the silent battles, and the prayers that didn’t go the way I hoped. It humbled me. It taught me compassion for others and grace for myself.
In suffering, I found strength I didn’t know existed. I learned that being broken doesn’t mean you’re disqualified—it means God is about to rebuild you differently. Success gave me confidence, but suffering gave me character. It built endurance, deepened my faith, and showed me that purpose is often born out of pain.
Suffering taught me that even when the light feels far away, God is still there—working, healing, and writing beauty into every broken place.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
Honestly, for a long time—she wasn’t. I spent years being who I thought people wanted me to be. I learned how to show up strong, polished, and positive, even when I was breaking on the inside. I carried the weight of others’ expectations and started to lose sight of who I really was beneath it all.
I didn’t realize it then, but I was living as an imposter in my own life—hiding behind the version of me that felt safer, quieter, and more acceptable. The real me was there all along, she just didn’t feel free enough to show up.
But healing has changed that. God has been teaching me that I don’t have to perform to be purposeful or perfect to be powerful. Now, I’m walking boldly in my authentic self—the woman who is healed, evolving, and still becoming. The same Shania you see in public is the same Shania I am in private: raw, faith-filled, creative, and still learning as I go. I am not perfect but I don’t have no shame showing my imperfections because I’m finally FREE.
I’ve learned that authenticity isn’t about perfection—it’s about alignment. And I refuse to hide behind the version of me that people expect, when God has already called me to be the real one.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
What I’ve come to understand deeply is that God will use everything—even the things that broke you—to build you. Most people see pain as punishment, but I’ve learned that sometimes it’s just preparation. The moments that made me cry out to God were the same moments that taught me who He really is.
I understand now that healing isn’t just about getting over what happened—it’s about allowing God to show you the purpose behind it. Every disappointment, every loss, every closed door carried a lesson that success could’ve never taught me. I used to ask “why me?” but now I ask “what for?” because I know He wastes nothing.
I’ve also learned that peace doesn’t come from having it all together—it comes from surrender. When you truly trust God, you realize that even the detours are divine. The pain was never meant to destroy me; it was meant to develop me.
So what I understand now—what I wish more people did—is that sometimes the breaking was the blessing. God had to break me open to pour purpose out of me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iam_shaniad?igsh=dWI0dnR3Y3MwNTNj&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BNRUVuvjQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: https://a.co/d/fiCH1Fs
Image Credits
Shania Thomas
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