CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Ty West starts and ends her day with her two kissy-face furballs, Blossom and Bailey.
In fact, they're such a big part of her life that Blossom, her 6-year-old protective poodle mix, was also the inspiration behind the name for her online business 'IBloomWeb.'
"I wasn't thinking it would go this far," she said. "I kind of fell into it. I had this previous entrepreneur endeavor and I had to design a website. I had people ask about the website, and ask if I could help them with that, and I was like 'Yeah, I can do that,' and maybe I can turn this into a business."
West runs IBloomWeb out of her second-floor guest room with her constant companions.
"I have them to come home to and they are are always here to snuggle and show love," she said. "They help distract me, yes they do."
At 35, the Corpus Christi native poured her hard work and effort into IBloomWeb during the pandemic, where she eventually built it into a fully-fledged business.
"You definitely have to have faith," she said. "Hope has to be there. And every day is inspiration."
Now, she dedicates her days to making sure her 20-plus clients have a top-tier web interface to help sell and market their goods.
"I get so excited when I hear what their businesses are, and I think about them," she said. "I can see that. I can see their main header, their colors, their photos. I have my clients send me a text or email, or send me something, and I'm there and I can make the changes for them."
It is not lost on this Texas A&M-Corpus Christi University graduate that she sometimes faces an uphill battle in the business world -- especially online.
"There are, of course, stereotypes, and people expect you to speak a certain way and expect you to handle business a certain way," she said. "So not only being a woman, but a Black woman -- you have to break those barriers, those sterotypes and sometimes it's difficult, but it's definitely not impossible."
However, ultimately, what motivates West is her father who recently died.
"My dad was always a very hard-working person and he had his air-conditioning business he would do outside his full-time job, and that's like what I do now, working pretty much two jobs," she said. "But he always instilled working hard. If you want something you have to work for it. You can't expect it to be given to you."
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