A Chronic Entrepreneur: Tyla Hodgson
Tyla Hodgson is a kick-ass entrepreneur who is de-stigmatising women’s pleasure and making it fun with her business, Oh My Vibes. Tyla describes the process of creating this business as “unlearning and relearning of what it means to be a woman.” It also helped her in her process of learning to manage her chronic illnesses: Ulcerative Colitis, Endometriosis and Chronic Kidney Disease. Read on to find out more about Tyla Hodgson and Oh My Vibes.
What makes you an Entrepreneur?
The willingness to give it a go.
How did the path of entrepreneurship come to you?
My family always had a very strong focus on personal development and entrepreneurship. How to win friends and influence people was always in our bookshelf, we listened to Robert Kawasaki on the way to school and always used school projects as a way to do something outrageous. Even being in the music industry I went in with a brand bible at 14 and said “I want to look like this, write songs like this and i’ll organise the photoshoots”. I think the biggest lesson for me was choosing my ‘products’ more carefully. Being a product yourself requires you to be always on brand, where as creating something and letting it have a life of it own has been a much longer journey.
What’s your diagnosis story? How old were you?
Like most people - I was properly diagnosed years after starting the process. I was 16 when my symptoms started, 20 when I was misdiagnosed with Crohn’s and then 21 when I got my official diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis with severe Proctitis.
It took me collapsing in my GP’s office for someone to finally take me seriously, I had been told many times that “it was all in my head”, “I was faking it for attention” - “I was confused and the bleeding was just my period” When I was finally taken in for a colonoscopy, I remember waking up and being so groggy and kinda high and not understanding what the doctor was saying to me so he just wrote it down on a scrap piece of paper “you have Crohn’s” - When my mum called to ask me how it went I read the note to her and felt her heart sink. I had never heard of IBD before, I wasn’t given any follow up information, just a script for steroids. I was hospitalised for the first time about a week later and didn’t leave for 2 months.
What’s your frame of mind like at the moment? How have you survived the pandemic?
Part of what kept me going during the pandemic was reminding myself and my team that never before in history could women, with chronic illness, from all around the country, build a company to change the conversation around women’s pleasure without leaving their homes. While there have been many many moments of anxiety, I feel I have found my groove with lockdown and appreciate having a mission. The hardest parts have been seeing the divide between people online. Being in that category that feels vulnerable and watching very ablest comments and action from friends has been tough.
Did you go through any sort of 12-stages of grief with the diagnosis or take it in its stride? In other words, how did the grief process manifest itself – did you immediately reassess your life or was it more gradual?
Hahah OHHH boi did I. My ‘reassess’ came after everything literally caught on fire. I ran from my diagnosis as far as I could. I had a real “I won’t let this stop me from doing anything” approach. It landed me in the ICU for a month in the worst place possible… America. After a half a million dollar medical bill (guilt) and a medical evac back to Aus, I spent another 2 months in hospital (this is when the anger and bargaining with god came in) and then the kicker depression. What I think really held me back was right as I was on my upward turn from that ordeal, I was in a house fire and had to spend the next few months in rehab for PTSD. In 6 months I went from being a world champion that was about to star in her first TV show in LA to being in a rehab facility, 20 kilos heavier in a Kmart jumper, managing trauma that felt all encompassing. It really took me 2 years of stopping everything after that to reassess. To work out who I would be in the world and how I could do this.
What have you learnt about yourself through this journey? How have you changed, if at all in your relationships, decisions, what you value/your life philosophy?
Wow, so much. I have explained the experience of creating Oh My as the unlearning and relearning of what it means to be a woman and that’s because it started years before the business began.
I remember refusing to die at 22, for me it really felt like a decision, and in the moment I felt determined to live, determined not to leave my family. But then the real work had to begin. That acceptance of ‘ok this is what I’ve got to work with, how can I make it great, because I’ve been fighting to be here’
I let myself enjoy my body whenever I can, just for myself. I have learnt to collect moments - sometimes that’s all we get.
And I tell everyone I love them everytime we speak, even my bebe, who is still working on saying it back.
What would you say to your ‘first-diagnosed’ self, or someone else who has just been diagnosed with a chronic illness?
You are the only person who gets to live in your head, make it a nice place to live.
And… it’s not your fault… there is no shame you need to carry, find what works for you.
Are you on any treatments? What modalities are in your wellness team?
I am on daily mercapatpurine, 8 weekly intravenous Inflexibmab and I used CBD daily for pain management.
What is a ‘bad day’ for you? How do you look after yourself on a ‘bad day’ or a day that is particularly stressful?
I call them my 0% days - got nothing in the tank.
Since getting into remission (hi 5), a bad day looks like 7/10+ pain and consistent nausea - My partner and I have a routine down pat. I usually need lots of distractions, Stargate or harry potter on TV, playing a game on my phone while talking about the big topics keeps me calm. I spend a lot of time between bed and the bath and have every streaming service + mobile game you can imagine. Having Mitch partner me in taking care off our fur babies and food is takes a lot of the stress of my plate. My team is also set up for me to take time off when I need. Its taken us a year to get there but being able to create a workplace culture that supports and understands CI has been vital to having the 0% days not take everything down.
Who are your backup dancers?
Mitch my business and lyf partner
Elise - my right-hand woman at Oh My
My family - my 3 brothers and my mum and dad
My fur babies - Luna + Sol
Lore - My dear friend
One Roof - my online community of female founders
Kirsty - my bestie
Best & worst bits of being A Chronic Entrepreneur?
Best bits - knowing what matters, being able to see past the bullshit with people
Worst bits - feeling like you’re letting people down by being unreliable.
Are you a 5-year planner or are you winging it?
Haha! I went in with a 5 year plan, and it went out the window 2 weeks in - so now i’m trying to go with the flow.
What are your dream weekend plans and have these changed over the past year?
I only say yes because I just got a VR headset and it is a GAME CHANGER! Previously my dream weekend would have been having my family over for a big dinner. Now… I wanna eat on mars in VR with them.
Who are your ultimate dinner party guests, (dead or alive), and who would you seat on either side of you?
Oprah and Jennifer Lawrence would be a fun time, I’d want to play charades with them and eat hamburgers.
What are you looking forward to in the next 6 months-1 year?
Getting to see my family, growing my company to the point I can pay myself ongoingly (which has been a goal of mine since I began) and creating a kick-ass podcast.
Where can people support you online?
You can find me on insta or tiktok
https://www.instagram.com/ty.rannosaurus/
https://www.tiktok.com/@ty.rannosaurus?
And check out Oh My
