Getting Sticky with Telsha Anderson-Boone

Words by Anamaria Glavan

Photos by Frankie Marin

Telsha Anderson-Boone did not want kids. In fact, she was content with embracing the role of cool auntie. But then she met her husband, a light bulb went off, and before she knew it, she was embracing a semi-unexpected (but deeply exciting) pregnancy.

Her content career took a similarly unplanned turn. In the thick of the pandemic, Telsha found herself with racks of unsold inventory from her clothing concept, T.A., and no clear solution. She started modeling the pieces herself as a last-ditch effort. Now, with a thriving online presence, a toddler in tow, and another baby on the way later, she can’t deny that the best things in life are the ones you don’t see coming.

Below, Telsha reflects on the physical exhaustion of her first pregnancy (“ I couldn't even believe that my boobs could stretch that far”) versus the emotional toll of her second, noting the invaluable lesson she learned along the way: to set boundaries without guilt. So no, random stranger, you cannot touch her third trimester stomach at Whole Foods. What is wrong with you?

“Starting a conversation was always my intent” 

I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to be growing up. I didn’t gravitate toward just one thing. What I liked most was getting dressed: putting on something fun, something people could talk about with me. Starting a conversation was always my intent. 

When I went to Syracuse from 2011 to 2015, I was honestly just bopping around dancing on tables and going to class. There was no clear trajectory. I even thought I might go into hospitality because it was something my dad was in. I loved hearing about his trips, traveling the world, and all the people he’d meet. I started applying to hospitality programs toward graduation and got into a few of them, but I just wasn’t really interested enough. What I did know was that I wanted to be in New York City. 

Food, wine, the evolution of influencer culture 

I grew up in Jersey but I'm originally from Ohio. We moved to Jersey when I was 10 and I lived there for the rest of my life. For my 16th birthday, my mom took me and my friends on one of those red bus tours and that’s when I really fell in love with New York City. I also danced at Alvin Ailey for a few years, I think every Thursday night and Saturday, and my mom or whoever would take me and I would get to explore the city that way as well.

So after graduating college, I ended up reconnecting with a friend from my hometown, and she connected me with her boss to sell park guides. You know those little guides you see at rest stops when you’re driving through Connecticut or other states? I’d be the one selling those park guides... it was super random. But I wanted to do anything that would allow me to live in the city.

I started there, thought I wanted to be a journalist, and did a summer program at Columbia. I then got a job at Food and Wine and that’s where I really fell in love with social. I was part of a team that helped shape content around food and wine for millennials; lots of interesting work around dive bars and up-and-coming restaurants. I did that for a year before moving to Hypebeast to do more social media. After that, I went to Purple PR, and that’s where my first “fashion” job was. I was the influencing manager for VIPs. It was kind of at the start of when influencers really started making money through content. 

An unexpected path 

For me, social didn't pop off until 2020. There might be one post of my face if you scroll all the way down on my Instagram, but everything else was of a tree, a shoe, a bag—super random and “mysterious” for no reason at all. 

I met Justin just two weeks before COVID hit, and I was rambling about not knowing what to do with all this inventory I had in the middle of a pandemic. He told me I might as well post myself in the clothes and get creative with it. My sister encouraged me to do the same. It all happened really fast. That was also when the “Shop Black” hashtag was happening, and that was such a blessing because we went from about 200 followers consisting of close friends and family to 10,000 by September of 2020. It was a quick blow-up, especially for someone who didn’t even want her face on Instagram. It honestly was a last resort. 

The flip of a switch 

Before I met Justin, I did not want kids. I just didn't see it for myself. I wanted to be an auntie. My parents have this magical love where my dad proposed to her after two weeks of knowing her, and my mom says all the time that she always knew she wanted to be a mom. I just never felt like that. 

It might have been because you want the best partner possible if you plan on having children, and I guess the people that I was surrounding myself with didn’t fit the criteria. But then I met Justin and I don't know, a switch went off. Then we got married and a year later, I was pregnant.

I was so excited. I couldn't even believe it. And now Seona is in my belly and the quick timeline is wild. I mean, me and my siblings were all two years apart, so I guess somewhere in my DNA it was bound to happen. But for me, my daughter is the most beautiful surprise because I just wasn’t expecting to get pregnant that second time around. 

Obviously this is what can happen when you have unprotected sex, but I just wasn’t expecting her. I took seven tests to confirm because I couldn’t believe it. I door-dashed them all to my house. I hid in the bathroom in the dark, peed on the sticks. I lined them all up and then turned the light on to see what they said. I didn’t even notice that I’d missed my period, which was kind of hilarious. 

A babysitter for me, a babysitter for my baby 

We do childcare ourselves. When Justin is gone, I’m lucky to have family here and that is such a blessing. My parents, sister, and brother all step in when they can. I have a really amazing support system, and the great thing is that they don’t just want to hang out with Shepherd; they also want to feed into my life. They take me to the movies, go with me to Beyoncé concerts, all the fun stuff. They love Shepherd and want to do everything with him, but they also recognize when I need a break. They’ll say, Okay, mom, you’ve been at home for five days. Let’s get you out of there. Let’s do something.

It’s really nice. Sometimes my dad will call and ask, Have you gotten your nails done? Are you looking raggedy over there? And I’m like, probably. Then he’ll tell me to drop Shepherd off by them. It’s so sweet. He’ll tell me, Go get your nails done or take a nap for a few hours.

Better late than never

If it's not on my calendar, I'm going to forget about it. I have to be as organized as possible—and within that organization, I have learned to be more flexible with my time, which I'm typically not used to doing. 

It’s been nice to be transparent with people when it comes to the not texting back thing. I suck at texting back. So I’ll send people a note: I didn't realize you texted me 17 days ago. What's up? Sorry, Shepherd's been in a mood. I kind of am a private person and being that honest has been hard, but it's also been extremely rewarding. 

No, really: who are the f* are these random bots? 

The best thing about social media is I really do view it as a job. And because I can compartmentalize really really well, I'm able to say, okay, this is a job and I plan to share this much. At the same time, social media is about understanding that sometimes the more you share, the more gigs you get. It’s crazy but that’s the name of the game, and it’s helped me open myself up more. And I'm sure that as I continue my motherhood journey, there will be more moments for me opening up.

For example, Shepherd had to get stitches a few months ago. I filmed an entire TikTok series about it but never posted it. The experience was traumatic as hell, and I found myself wanting to share it and to have conversations with people about preventative care and what I could have done differently. The whole situation was overwhelming. I kept going back and forth about it.

We did a campaign with Google and the engagement was great but what threw me off were some of the comments directed at Shep. People saying things like, Your baby looks high and Why would you put him on this ad? It was insane. I was sobbing at the comments and ended up talking to Google about it. They were more than happy to let me delete the comments which was kind because most brands won’t even let you do that. But even having to read them, it’s like, this is crazy. Who are these random bots? 

“You could be a demon on this earth” 

I get to be a little bit more direct in what I like now. When you're becoming a first-time mom and you have a lot of family, everyone has an opinion. Like people had a lot of opinions on what I was eating when I was breastfeeding and how that would affect Shepherd, for example. It just became too much. And now I'm a little more confident in the mommy world. 

I also think people could do a better job of speaking to the parents before they speak to the kid. It’s not the same thing as going up to someone’s dog, who will jump at you before the person can even speak. My child's not an animal. Speak to me, acknowledge me, and then acknowledge my child. I get it. He's cute. We're in Whole Foods and you want to grab at him, but what the hell? 

This woman came up to me and went, how many months? And her hands started to go straight towards my belly. Like, I don't know who you are. You could be a demon on this earth. Get away. And I jumped back and got really defensive. And she was offended that I was offended! Like, what? Goodbye. This is too much. 

More mess, less stress (sort of) 

When it comes to work, I sometimes seclude myself in a certain room so that I don’t see mess! Justin has a whole studio but will still bring every single rack he has into the living room. I was like, This is driving me nuts. But it's fine. Get the bag babe. Love you. I just have to suck it up.

And I've always been a night owl, so when the house is quiet I’ll go into the office and get stuff done. Me and Justin have a routine too. I have Mondays and Tuesdays to work and schedule all my calls around then, and then he’ll have Wednesdays and Thursdays. Shepherd goes to my parents’ house for a Friday night sleepover every week. 

I carve out time for self-care in the same way—when something is scheduled, I’m doing it. As moms, we put things off and then suddenly years will go by where you haven’t had a wax. I’m super selfish about that designated time. That’s important. 

And for me, acts of service are huge. That is my love language. Yesterday I came home and Justin was meal prepping for the week and it was the sexiest thing ever. 

Taking that nap  

My pregnancy with Shepherd was physically exhausting because my body had never done all of that. I couldn't even believe that my boobs could stretch that far. But my pregnancy with Seona is more emotionally exhausting—I’m having to get over more mental hurdles. Sometimes just getting up and starting the damn day is hard. I would be in bed thinking, This feels so good and I can’t move. And obviously when Justin was on Yellowstone and I was here, I was like, Okay, girl, you got to get up and you got to work.

But now that we're getting towards the end of Justin's current projects, and all my projects are here, I get to take a nap. I'm taking that nap at 2 p.m. for sure. I'm going to close my eyes for at least an hour.
I deserve it.