Philistine Amenaki: On Being Authentic and Going against the Grain

With one successful venture under her belt and a travel blog to her credit, Philistine has not been afraid to push the envelope. Working as a full-time nurse, she has been able to stir the waters of her creativity and gain much-deserved success. When it comes to following specific trends, Philistine has always been averse and instead focuses on aspects that are true to herself and experiences, which she further visualizes in her travel blog. Owing to her diverse experiences from being on the constant move since her early childhood, Philistine has imparted her knowledge in every creative journey she has stepped foot on. 

Being the owner of a beach hat brand called “Tropical being,” Philistine believes that her brand calls all women of color to travel the world and, most importantly, be themselves. Her obsession with hats made her realize early on that she would need to build a brand that feeds her creative soul and conveys a sense of purpose. Soon, her vision materialized and set up a successful business from scratch that caters to women looking to elevate their beach outfits up a notch. Philistine has been crystal clear on her goal from the get-go: to make women understand that they are entitled to enjoy the finer things in life and indulge in self-care activities that make them happy. What sets Philistine’s brand apart from others is that it offers a variety of colors and how each hat is named after the countries in Africa.

While Philistine has been the ultimate brainchild of all her ventures, she has not been afraid to seek guidance and connect with other people working in her industry. Her journey has been nothing less of an exciting opportunity for her to learn from others, especially those she has looked up to for years now. It has allowed her to gain insights and build a business that she is passionate about. Philistine’s success story is one marked by various challenges which she successfully overcame. Initially, when she started her travel blog, Philistine made many mistakes due to not knowing and being able to identify her target audience. Her blog didn’t set out on the trajectory she had hoped for. It wasn’t growing and didn’t get enough engagement. She then reached out to mentors Samia, Jay, and Nikki, and within no time, she started getting her desired results. Philistine’s travel blog currently stands at an impressive 7.3k followers, and as her bio suggests, she aims to “inspire queens to travel the world in luxury.”