How She Gets to Bed: Niamey Thomas, Founder & CEO of Life of Young Realist
How She Gets to Bed is a deep dive into how women who kick ass during the day spend their night. Tonight, we’re so excited to feature one of our long-time readers, Niamey Thomas! Niamey is the founder and CEO of Life of a Young Realist, a small business that creates Art that challenges the status quo. Niamey also hosts a podcast called “Diggin in w/ Niamey,” in which she digs into conversations that help us reflect on our relationship with our society and world. Without further ado, here is how she gets to bed. 💤
Niamey’s Background
Industry: Creative / Art / Content Creator
Occupation: Choreographer / Teacher / Creative
Age: 28
Location: Tempe, AZ
Awake by: Awake by 6:45 AM winter / 5:00 AM summer
Asleep by: Asleep by 10:30 PM all year long
Personal Social Media: @nniiamey
About Niamey
I am a follower of Christ, a Creative + a Storyteller, everything I do stems from these three identities. I create through the forms of Content for social media, Dance, and words. I utilize these avenues to present the Gospel to others, to create community + space for people, to advocate on behalf of people, and to challenge the status quo. My mission in life is to authentically love God, love others and love myself in a way that makes room for others. I am passionate about exploring, adventure, dance, poetry, film, communicating across cultures, and my family. I have a lot of energy so spend a lot of time excited about life.
On the Day-to-Day
Before Covid, I worked from home and just went out more throughout my day but now everything is at home. Each day is very different from each other so the schedule below is an idea of what I would do:
Wake up — I spend time reading the bible, doing my devotional, praying, and journaling during this time I also will read a few pages of a book.
8:00–9:00 AM — Make bed / Stretch / home workout / Meditate I believe success starts at the beginning of your day so I try to really prepare myself mental, physically and emotionally in the morning.
9:15 AM— I get dressed for the day, this includes skin care routine + hair. I sleep with a bonnet on my hair because I am natural so a silk bonnet/scarf keeps moisture in my hair and I like to spritz my hair with water and put some oil in my hair as well as use Curls leave in conditioner when styling.
10:00 AM — 2:00 PM — Work really depends on what is due that week and what is on my to do list, I can do any of the following, create to do list, check emails, breakfast, meetings, work on content for clients, prepare/edit podcast, work on LYR, prepare for evening classes/workshop, lunch
2:00–3:00 PM — Rest, I take a nap, or color, walk, watch a show, read just time for me to unwind.
3:00 PM — 8:30 PM — Dinner, Teach dance classes. My main gig is as a Dance Teacher/Choreographer so I spend a lot of time in the studio (or at home dancing on zoom because of COVID). During the week when I get home I talk to my roommate who is also my best friend.
Activities to Relax
I transition from work mode to bed time by spending some time breathing and reflecting on my day. I don’t always do it sitting down, sometimes I do it while warming up leftover dinner, or preparing for my shower. Depending on how hard the day was to my mind and body I will spend time catching up on shows, I’ve been watching 911, Sweet Magnolias, and One-on-One
Products to Get Unready
I double cleanse so I use a cleansing oil and follow it up with Be Transcendent both from a small business I support. When in the shower I drop a few drops of Lavender essential oil to slow me down and to tell my body it’s time for bed. When out of the shower I use Almond or grapeseed oil for my body and begin my nighttime skin care, I have started massaging my face and shoulders trying to ease any tension that I placed on my body throughout the day.
Late Night Snacks
I don’t really do any late night snacks, I love hot chips (all kinds) so I might do that before the shower or some fruit, but typically when I take my shower it’s me telling my body we are done for the day and going to sleep.
Nighttime Routine
8:30 PM — Dinner, shower, night time routine, read or journal, FaceTime my boyfriend before bed.
Follow Life of a Young Realist on Instagram (@LifeOfAYoungRealist) and explore art and current events by listening to Niamey’s podcast “Diggin in w/ Niamey.”
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