I’m so happy to be doing this interview with Santia Deck. She’s a top female athlete and Founder of Tronus sneaker brand. Enjoy!

I am so profoundly excited, and happy to sit down and talk with Santia Deck… she is such a bad ass! We will be talking about all things her, and her journey.

Hiiii… how are you doing?... I am doing good and how are you doing?  I am doing amazing.

Congratulations on your engagement before we start. Thank you so much. Was that a hair flip moment when it happened…. Yes… all I can say is that it has been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait.

You have built an incredible empire. First, I want to say thank you to Dr. Velma Trayham though. You have been around forever, but I have not been aware. Then I saw you interviewed by Dr. Velma… you talked about building your brand, and how it was not an overnight success.

Please take us through your journey. You are one of the originators, and have been on Instagram since its inception…

Yes, since 2012. That is a long time. A decade, and a long time to be growing. So, along your journey when did you realize this was something that you could use as a tool for your business. Because you are also known as the Queen of Abs, and how have you parlayed that into so many things…

I got on Instagram in 2012. At first, I was just kind of doing what everybody else was doing, like ‘duck lips’. I remember seeing this one lady that was always posting lip glosses, then she would have shirts and just random things. One day I asked her – ‘are you getting paid for this’?

She said, yes… she told me that she got approximately $25.00 per post. She offered to show me just how she did it. So, literally every day after track practice I was in my dorm room learning and doing ‘shout out for shout out’. I was going in people’s comments and commenting, responding, and just engaging with people.

Then eventually I started to grow my followers. Also, at the same time I was posting my all my Track and Field workouts. I was doing some crazy things on Instagram with fitness (which I would not encourage anyone to do). I started getting shout-outs on these big platforms.

My followers started to explode.  By the time I was ready to graduate I had approximately 50,000 followers and had gotten my first sponsor deal. It was a shirt company in Hawaii, and they sent me a shirt. Now imagine in college and that happening to you.

Ahaha, oh yes… to this day my two favorite words are ‘free’, and ‘approved’.  Exactly! So, when I got that free shirt, it clicked something in my brain – ‘I want to do this for a living’. Ever since then I have been doing what you guys have been seeing on my platform for the past ten years.

You graduated from Texas A&M, and I do feel that that needs to be stressed. You did not just get lucky, you have worked. You have put the work in and the time, and constantly educated yourself. When did you see your followers increase… was it when you transitioned from your Track and Field to when you became the highest paid female Football athlete…

I would say when I went viral for the contract offer that I had with Football. At that time, I gained about 200,000 followers in about a six-month span. I woke up and my life changed, it was crazy.

How did you go from Track & Field, Rugby, then parlayed your career into Football. Did you have a love for it, or did you just go with the flow….

Literally I went with the flow. I finished Track & Field when I graduated, and was hoping to make the Olympic Team, but that did not work out because I ended up getting injured. I was pretty injury prone throughout my life to be honest.

After that I was done. I had to figure out what I wanted to do with athletics, because I knew that I did not want to be done. I remember driving one day and saw a Flag Football sign for tryouts. I was like let me go and see what this about, and I went and did amazing.

Flag Football to be honest, and I know a lot of people know me from Tackle Football and the contract. Flag Football was the main reason that I was seen and recruited. I went viral a couple of times playing Flag Football.  I was then recruited for Rugby, and how I was known by the league that offered me the contract for Tackle Football. They saw me playing Flag Football and gave me a chance.

I would honestly say Flag, yes! It was the catalyst for everything that you see now, including my shoe company.

I love your nails… how did you have them when you played Tackle Football. I know that I Fenced, that is a very different sport (I could hit back). You could break a nail or injure your face (with your nails). So how did you do it in Football.

Ahahaha…I get that question all the time. For Rugby I could not have long nails, period.  For Flag I could have nails. They were long, but not super long. I do not wear them super long, so I can grip a flag, or catch a football. If I can keep them long I will, but if I need to take cut them I will. Sometimes they do get in the way.

You have your shoe line … you are the first black female owned shoe line, that is historic number one. Then you also parlayed that into children clothing line. As well as you have your e-book. Your e-book is a solid investment, and the information that you are receiving is solid.  People do not tell you which direction to go in. The how-to approach for each industry is different, so take us through the why you did the e-book, why you are so passionate about the e-book, and why it is so important. Then how does it feel to have your sneaker brand…

Thank you. My e-book is one of my passions. I always wanted to teach athletes how to be self-sufficient outside of being on the field, or court. You never know when your last game will be, due to injuries, or age out etc. There are so many opportunities out there on social media and athletes should be taking advantage of those opportunities.

There are speaking opportunities, brand building, endorsement deals, and so much happening. Especially with NIL deals now being approved in high school, and college. If you are not taking advantage of those opportunities, you are missing out on so much money.

I want to empower athletes to go after those opportunities. Even if you are in high school, college, you can be recruited; and you must take advantage of those opportunities. If you are not, you are making things more difficult than they have to be. The e-book is there to help athletes. I have worked with big brands, I know what they are looking for, so why not give back the knowledge.

What do you say to someone … athletes, that could make a mistake that they think, or could impact and jeopardize (negatively) their good moral standing, and character. And they would think – why even bother. What would you say to someone like that…

Yes, I never think it is too late for anything. You can always re-brand yourself. Figure out what you want to do outside of what you are known for doing.

Most athletes have identity issues, including myself, so you do have to figure out who you are off the field. I encourage athletes to find their passion outside of their sports. So, you can then figure out what direction you want to go in after sports.

Now tell us about being historic at 31 years old! How does that feel, and how did it come about…. I want all the details…

Well, I actually have some of my shoes here. Shut up! I was looking at them online, more so the purple and gold one. Oh yes… we retired those, but we might bring them back.  

This is the first pair that we released, and it went viral. These are some of our low tops, and we have slides as well. I am wearing our slides now. They have double memory foam for those that have knee and back issues.

My shoe company came about from the brand that I built. It was from one opportunity to another opportunity, to another. I was initially offered to be a brand ambassador (for a shoe brand), and I was selling their shoes very well. From there one of their designers came and asked me if I thought about my own shoe line.  

I was like yes why not. He mocked up a design exactly what I had envisioned. I posted on Instagram and the response was crazy, it went viral in a day. That is when I knew that we were onto something.

My mother who is my COO, manager, and best friend… she came in and proposed to not only do a shoe but have a shoe company. My concern was that we would have to compete against all these big sneaker brands. My mother’s response was that we could do it. We did a lot of market research before we started our shoe company. It took us two years of research, and preparations before we could be able to start our shoe company.

We came to the point of whether we were going to move forward with the idea (the shoe company). My mother simply told me to pray about it, and it was clear to me after that. If I moved forward, and it was a success…then I would be solidifying generational wealth. Breaking generational curses and opening doors to the next generation(s) of young black females in God, and business.

They will see someone in the shoe industry that looks like them, owning it, and not just getting a percentage of the sales from their named shoes. I decided to jump, and now we are here.

My fun question before we go…how do you relax, unwind and keep your skin glowing, because you do have to wear a helmet…

Oh, do you want the honest answer? … yes!... living stress free. That has done wonders for me. I am telling you, being in toxic situations and stressed out, just being in uncomfortable places, situations and dealing with certain energies. Those toxic situations can cause a lot of things to happen internally and externally.

Also making certain changes, letting some things go, and giving it all to God…  then allowing Him to carry me through in life.

The biggest lesson that I have learned to manage stress is – if it is meant to be then it will be. I started applying that in my life and it has been the best. Since I have been doing that, my skin started glowing. Then of course a healthy diet, making sure what I am putting into my body are the right choices. Working out and sleeping.  I love to sleep!

What can we look forward to with your shoe and children’s line in 2023…

There is so much I cannot talk about just yet. But we do have some measured things happening with the shoe company, we are going to be in some new retail stores – I can say that. I am launching my second novel, it is about my life, the beginning to now.

I will also be launching a men’s line. Everything else I would say stay tuned, and just keep following me.

If you bring back the purple and gold sneakers, please let me know… Okay I got you.  Thank you, Santia! Everyone go to her website, santiadeck.com and get her e-book it is a true resource.  Thank you so much for having me. No, thank you for your time, this was a blast.