Taneia Surles: Written Pursuit of Wellness

The concept of health and wellness has witnessed a momentous shift, especially after COVID-19 threw life off gear. To elaborate, health and wellness are not one thing; rather, they are a cumulation of practices, attitudes, and lifestyles that help us become better versions of ourselves when aligned correctly. There are many sources of content out there that give information and insight into enhancing overall well-being, and the demand for such written material cannot be denied. Following her passion for writing, Taneia Surles, a freelance writer and owner of Content by Taneia , is doling out content specializing in health, wellness, and productivity for small businesses.   

Giving Wings to Passion  

A native of Huntsville, Alabama, and born and raised in the Yellowhammer state, one can say that Taneia was an early bloomer when it came to writing. Despite being told that she was a good writer since elementary school, she never pursued it seriously due to a lack of interest. Like any other kid, she pursued formal education and attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham to get a bachelor’s degree in Public Health in 2016 and later a master’s degree in Public Health with a Health Behavior concentration in 2020.  

The onset of the pandemic around the same time made it tough for Taneia to bag a full-time job but introduced her to the world of freelance writing while actively looking for a side hustle. She registered herself on the freelance content platform “Upwork” and slowly made her way into the freelancing arena, project after project. Alongside, she has also worked in the public health, healthcare, education, and retail fields, besides presently being a Community Outreach Coordinator for a healthcare facility in her hometown.   

Foray into Entrepreneurship  

Content by Taneia , her freelancing content business, is the amalgamation of Taneia’s education and work experience in public health. Specializing in content including, but not limited to, blogs, long-form articles, newsletters, social media posts, infographics, quizzes, and bios, her venture gives an outlet to her two passions – to serve as a public health advocate and provide high-quality content for clients. Her approach is simple: informing, entertaining, and increasing leads with the written word, keeping every client's target audience in mind. To facilitate that, she engages in research for the topics, reads up on blogs, studies, and interviews pertaining to it, implements SEO to make her writings credible, and includes relevant sources to gain the trust of her readers. For her, proper grammar, structure, and readability are the most important aspects of a well-written piece of content.     

The world might have adapted to a more audio-visual medium, but the relevance of text is not dying any time soon. Technology might have taken over our lives, but the written word as a basic form of communication still lives on. Adding to it, the surge in social media has only given an impetus to written content, as captions on such platforms are a great way to provide short and concise information to the readers. The need for health-centric content is on the rise, and Taneia aims to create awareness of important matters through her writing. Also, written content helps businesses “get seen” on search engines. Images seldom work without any text accompanying them.    

Surging Ahead  

Like any other entrepreneur as well as a freelancer, Taneia’s path has also been strewn with challenges. She has often encountered clients who have no consideration for her time and hard work and made her work overtime. Although frustrated, Taneia did not think of giving up and worked her way around finding solutions to the problems at hand. Over time, she learned the tricks of the trade and slowly worked her way into creating boundaries (in the form of binding contracts) with her clients to avoid such unforeseen situations and, moreover, take care of her mental health by reducing unnecessary stress.   

From the insights that she has gathered as an entrepreneur, Taneia has some pearls of wisdom that she feels every woman can follow to grow her businesses. “Do not let bad clients or a slow day/month discourage you from following your passion. Every business owner faces challenges that will break your morale and instigate you to give up. However, you need to develop the grit and determination to overcome these adversities and remind yourself as to why you are here in the first place – to give wings to your dreams,” Taneia commented.