Doing it All: Student, Influencer, & CEO with Jayla Leslye

Jayla Leslye is a New York-born and raised go-getter. Since she was a child, she’s had big goals of becoming someone impactful, meaningful, and able to make a difference in her family and community. Now, as a graduating senior Honors student at Howard University’s School of Business, we take a look at all of the roles and influences she’s had throughout her life leading her to become a college grad, a model and influencer, and the CEO of her family’s business. 

Jayla as a child in two commercials

After creating her Instagram account in middle school, Jayla always considered a career as an influencer. After already being a child model and actress, social media become another mode for her to perform. “Technology and the shift to UGC connected with me because I’ve always been in front of a camera.” After steadily growing her lifestyle brand throughout her teenage years, she blew up her sophomore year of college, jumping from 12 thousand followers to 60 thousand followers in one year. Now, her account has over 100 thousand followers. Recollecting on her youth as a performer, including modeling, acting, music, and sports, she stated, “ I didn’t know what was going to be the thing that really stuck and inspire me and give me the space to grow unconditionally without limits.” However, as Jayla recognized how obtainable becoming an influencer was and the financial freedom she could obtain, she jumped full force into growing her brand. 

Right now, Jayla’s known for her lifestyle, fashion, and beauty content, often surrounding her life in college or travels, but she wants to expand her content and her brand even further, including her platforms on TikTok and YouTube. “I’m at a crossroads right now ready to start showing other sides of myself that have not been seen on my social media, because right now, it’s just a glimpse of my life… I want to be more genuine, more human, and I hope that will only heighten her connection with her following.” She hopes to cultivate a more well-rounded view of who she is, including her life as an entrepreneur, her struggles with mental health, and her love for her family. “Influencers are real people, this is a real job, and I want to represent that.” 

Jayla hosting a pop up shop at her college, Howard University

On top of her content creation, Jayla is the CEO and founder of her family’s pepper sauce business, Thomas Family Taste. She created the company as an homage to her grandmother, Shirley, who created the recipe. After immigrating to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago, Shirley worked mulitple jobs at a time to support the rest of her family, and eventually bring over as many family members to the States as possible. Through all her hard work, she bought a house in the Bronx which served not only as her home, but the home for all her newly immigrated siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. To express her love, every Sunday Shirley would cook massive meals along with her iconic pepper sauce, making enough food and sauce to feed the entire family for days. “It’s flavorful and it’s heat… She would give them apple juice containers with hot sauce in them, and everyone always wanted more apple juice.”

Jayla’s grandmother, Shirley, as a young adult

Jayla knew she wanted to be influential just like her grandmother. “She built an entire legacy, and that’s what I want to do; build a legacy for my entire family.” As she realized her dreams of being an entrepreneur, she turned to her family. Her parents wanted to turn Shirley’s Sauce into a business, but it was too difficult for them to run it themselves, so Jayla spearheaded its

inception. Now, Jayla runs the company alongside her parents and sister, and Shirley still helps make the sauce. “I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but you need to be passionate about it… I want to grow the company big enough to show the legacy my grandma built.” 

 Jayla with her parents and younger sister.

Although Jayla is achieving great things, these careers don’t come without their difficulties. She notes how managing her mental health can be extremely challenging at times, especially as her journey as an influencer has changed. Jayla notes that between all the highs and lows, it can be 

difficult to stay motivated or keep up with posting, but it’s necessary to get to the next point of her career. “This is a job at the end of the day. This is a career, this is a profession… being an influencer, it’s difficult to maintain a consistent work-life balance.” 

When discussing why she chose to pursue so many different paths at the same time, Jayla highlights all of the hardships her parents experienced. Her parents took on the weight of the family, working the hardest, putting themselves through college, and acting as the glue of the family. Growing up and watching their hard work, Jayla became engrained with the same values and puts 100% into everything she does. Since her parents have been able to lift her up, now, she now wants to exceed them. “You should always do better than the generations before you.” 

Jayla’s parents, Jamal and Leslye, at a pop up shop.

Jayla has also been a role model to her younger sister, who followed in her footsteps as an actress and influencer, boasting over 110 thousand followers on TikTok and 160 thousand on Instagram. “Because I struggled through this, it came easy for her, and I want to do the same for my family. I’m bringing my family up with me.” The duo also recently created a joint social account, sitting at just under a thousand followers. 

Her ultimate goals are to obtain financial freedom and give back to her community with both her money and influence. As an influencer, “you’re 100% in charge,” without ties to any one structure, image, or location, and Jayla wants to grow her brand and gain the financial and mental freedom she knows it can bring. “Money doesn’t buy happiness. Freedom buys happiness.” With this freedom, Jayla hopes to serve as a role model and influence to her community and family, wanting to become an accessible and obtainable image of what a Black Hispanic woman can achieve. As a member of Alpha Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Jayla is committed to public service and hopes to create programs and initiatives in New York that promote education, entrepreneurship, and mental health post graduation. She also wants to be able to financially provide tools and resources to those around her so they may also achieve their goals, just as she has, and eventually can focus on non-profit work. “I want to be an inspiration for people who look like me. I want to leave a legacy.”