Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiffany West
Tiffany, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
At a young age, I knew in my heart that my purpose was to help others, edify others, and help the beaten-down people of our society believe in dreams again. I was blessed at an early age to see my parents affect everyone they met positively and spread love, kindness, and hope wherever they were. As we traveled from church to church/ community to community I received the best training by simply watching my parents as they preached, taught, coached, mentored, and fundraised.
When I began my ministry, I made my goal to make a “positive time and eternity difference in the lives of all who crossed my path.” I have attempted to do this through outreach to the houseless, elderly, veterans, needy children, battered women and children, aids/ HIV patients, and hungry people. As an instructor and teacher, I worked with children who were tossed to the side as a result of a diagnosis. Later as a corporate trainer, I tried to instill hope in the adult trainees and a sense of accomplishment and support.
Within the community, I strive to bring everyone together. Through cultural events for the varying peoples represented in Saint Louis County, I strive to help neighbors understand their neighbors’ points of view, victories, and struggles.
In my family, I serve as a support system and hope that my entire family sees me as a non-biased person they can come to for help, advice, or just a shoulder.
My story is a story of others. My legacy will be my service and my outreach. I am not perfect. I have made mistakes. I take responsibility for all of my mistakes. That said I continually strive to better myself for not just me but my outreach so that I can continue my mission of serving others.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Before I was born, forces were at work to stop me from being me. They wanted to defeat me and stop me from helping people in my community and beyond. During my mother’s pregnancy, my parents were told to abort me as I was expected to be sickly. My parents did not abort me and rather chose to deliver the baby that would become me.
As a baby, I would be in an accident with my family. My parents, sisters, and I were in the car. A vehicle hit us, and the window shield cracked. A portion of the glass split my car seat in half. After the accident when people came to check me, they would find me on the floorboard with everyone’s jackets on top of me. There was no explanation of how I had been moved or how the jackets moved from the family’s body to cover me.
Fast forward to when I was about five years old, the children under three in a rural tri-county area all became quite ill. Many of the children didn’t make it during this time but I did. I would see a major growth spurt and record temperatures during this hospitalization. To this day doctors have yet to isolate what happened to cause these issues in the local children. Many believe it was due to a Saint Louis company spraying chemicals. No one knows for sure.
Also, during my young years, I would become silent. My parents had me tested to see if I was hearing impaired or mute. Eventually, I would speak again but it took some time and gentle coaxing from my family.
As a preteen, I didn’t look like everyone around me. I was taller than the other girls by at least four inches. I trained religiously for volleyball and basketball. I wasn’t large but my distorted view of myself made me feel like I was. This is when my struggle with weight began. A non-problem became a problem in my endeavor to fix it. Much later I would find that I had an illness that caused me to have difficulty losing weight.
In high school, we moved from Gainesville, Florida, to Cape Coral, Florida. During this time, the first major school shooting occurred (Columbine). This greatly affected me even though I was across the country. A very real fear rippled through families at this time. I began doing satellite classes with the school I had left in Gainesville. This allowed me to graduate a year early.
While completing high school, 9/11 happened. It affected us as we have many family members in the military, law enforcement, and my father was a supervisor at a state facility at the time. I was home completing my work and caring for my mother after she had a medical situation when the news of the attack was televised. This was a scary time while we were waiting to hear that everyone was okay.
I went off to Dallas for college and learned the realities of living on my own in the real world. That said, my parents were there to help me if I fell. After moving back home, I found a place and began working in the community. I would receive a prophecy over my life from a prophet during a revival at my father’s church. He told me that if I accepted God’s call into the ministry the enemy would try to kill me in every way possible- physically, emotionally, financially, etc. Boy did he try.
The very next day a loaded semi ran over my car and threw me into a concrete pole. My concern… calling my boss to let him know I would not be back to work that day. After surviving this horrific accident, only a month later I would be diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer (I would go on to fight this multiple times in the future as well). I would feel my first heartbreak and also lose my opportunity to adopt the three wonderful boys who had my heart in the school I was teaching at just one day before the deadline. Their father returned from prison to collect them and travel across state lines.
Only a few years later, I would move to a small community to support my parents during their healing process from surgery. I would stay with them for about a year and a half before moving to Saint Louis. While in Saint Louis, I would lean heavily into my supplemental work as the hurt from the church ran deep and I struggled to heal from those events. It was never really about what was said or done to me. I was hurt by what my parents had endured. They have given everything to the Kingdom, and I hated that they had experienced this hurt. Truth be told, they bounced back quicker than I did.
During my Saint Louis years, my injuries from the accident would manifest in excruciating pain. After having gone to many doctors, pain management specialists, chiropractors, holistic doctors, etc. it was determined that my spinal column was deteriorating in the bottom vertebrae and bits of my vertebrae in the thoracic area were falling into my nerve canal causing nerve pain through many parts of my body. The trauma of the accident combined with other situations caused me to be diagnosed with spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis, and two other degenerative spinal diseases. After many years of desperately treating my back with many methods, I had spinal surgery. I was blessed to find a spectacular surgeon in this area who is one of the very best in this country. Despite still having issues with my back, I am significantly more mobile than what the other surgeons told me I would experience post-surgery.
Throughout all these struggles, I dealt with learning how Polycystic Ovary Syndrome would affect my body as a whole. I was informed I am insulin resistant and had to learn how to adjust for not only that but also my gastritis within my diet. Due to my PCOS, I would hemorrhage for months at a time. I have found a phenomenal doctor in the Saint Louis region who has helped me control the majority of those symptoms to make my daily life more manageable. In addition, I learned that I have anxiety with panic attacks tied to amnesia and flashbacks. I never knew what exactly was happening but once I had a diagnosis, I was able to start focusing on my mental health.
Currently, I am fighting to launch my businesses and see my dream come to a reality in a brick-and-mortar location. Unfortunately, it continues to be a very real struggle. My finances have taken a major hit, but I remain dedicated to my cause. I am actively searching for investors, grants, etc.
We’ve been impressed with HERBAL PHOENIX STL, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Herbal Phoenix STL (Duffy and Tiffany) provides healing to people utilizing nature’s gifts to us while educating people about misrepresented and under-represented people groups (their language, their history, etc…) and our path of peace with light.
In recent years, increasing numbers of people have been choosing herbal medicines or products to improve their health conditions, either alone or in combination with other methods. Herbs are staging a comeback and herbal “renaissance” occurs all over the world. According to the World Health Organization, 75% of the world’s populations are using herbs for basic healthcare needs. Since the dawn of mankind, the use of herbs/plants has offered an effective medicine for the treatment of illnesses. Moreover, many conventional/pharmaceutical drugs are derived directly from both natural and traditional remedies.
While there are wellness businesses in our market, there has yet to be a company like Herbal Phoenix. We provide healing to people of all classes. We serve those who have allergies to medications, those without insurance who need another option, and those who are desperate to find relief as western medicine has failed them.
Our current and perspective buyers range in ages and genders. They all share a few of the same characteristics. They are looking for a deeper connection with self. They are looking for solutions to their ailments. They want to learn and connect with others while bettering themselves. Keeping the similarities in mind, our customers come from a variety of people groups, income brackets, and even religions. We celebrate our differences with our policy of inclusivity. Our customers could be a pagan looking for mother natures provisions for their daily needs. Perhaps the customer is an Asian- American looking for herbal remedies like those from their ancestor’s land. We even have Christians who come to see the wonder of all God created and how he planned for our every need.
Most of our customers are brand-conscious, bargain buyers. They are looking for a sustainable company that is conscious of their environmental impact and attempts to balance that impact. Most want a brand that educates individuals on how to better their environmental practices to allow our earth to be here for generations to come. They are looking for an organization that understands how to use the earth’s gifts without compromising her strength. In combination with being brand conscious, many of our customers are bargain shoppers. COVID and our resulting economy has caused a majority of people to evaluate how they spend their money and ensure they are utilizing every dollar to its full power.
What motivates our customers to buy? We represent a cause. We fight to protect Mother Earth and educate our customers and community. In addition to our social endeavors, we provide a service that so many have never experienced- a private consultation with a custom solution for each customer using natural elements only. We commit to each customer to walk their journey to health with them as they find relief using our products and celebrate their milestones with them.
Consumers of 2024 view wellness across six dimensions- better health, better fitness, better nutrition, better appearance, better sleep, and better mindfulness. Our teas and natural skin/hair products allow for better health, aid in their fitness journey, and provide better nutrition to supplement their needs. We are known for the best insomnia tea in the region. Our teas, smudging tools, crystals, education classes, and more all lend themselves to assisting the customer in finding a sense of peace and mindfulness.
I am available to speak at any events or write for a range of topics.
What were you like growing up?
I was born in Springfield, Missouri, while my parents were pastors at the Niangua Church of God (in Southern Missouri). Throughout my childhood, my parents were (and continue to be) warriors on a mission to heal churches and communities. Our family traveled to communities that had churches that had experienced some kind of financial trauma, reputational issues, or scandals. Together they rebuilt the church people and as a unit, the people along with my parents rebuilt the vision of the church and the community’s perspective on the church. They raised funds to place the church back in a positive financial stance.
I loved meeting new people and seeing how my parents helped so many people regardless of age, gender, race, class, location, or any other criteria. I determined early in life that I would be like them when I was older. I would help people when they felt they were overlooked or at the end of their rope.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.herbalphoenixstl.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herbalphoenixstl/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tiffanyinthelou
- Other: www.designedtoignite.com
