hi friends, happy mondaaaaay. today is the last day to save $500 on life of the party (and the live experience starts next week!) so I’d looove to introduce you to one more spring party friend before the summer sesh begins. I already know you’ll be so excited to connect with tonya because she’s such a brilliant example of leading with your whole self, pursuing our multitudes and building true community online –– the kind that sees + celebrates every season, pivot, and creative endeavour.
meet tonya papanikolov, founder of Rainbo (a product-based brand sharing adaptogenic functional mushrooms in the form of powders, tinctures, and beyond), host of The Rainbo Podcast (where she hosts deep, thought-provoking conversations at the intersection of healing, science, spirituality, and human potential), and co-creator of Ethereal Reset, an in-person retreat experience that has been on my wish list since well before tonya came into the LOTP orbit ;). and tonya’s working on launching something new later this summer, so that list is only the beginning.
if you’ve been looking for evidence that alllll the gorgeous windy threads of your work can “make sense” under one personal brand, you’re about to find it.
the interview ↓
Q: you’re in a unique position in that you grew a large following + community around a product-based brand, but have been expanding your leadership into a personal brand outside of that. I’d love to hear more about that transition and how your relationship to social media has evolved as a result.
A: I’ve been building what we call a “personal brand” since around 2016, before Rainbo even existed! I never really thought of it that way, though. For me it was always about community, trust, and being of service through the healing work I was offering at the time. That foundation actually made Rainbo’s launch easier than it might have been, because the trust was already there.
The first few years of Rainbo were all-consuming, so I stepped away from my personal presence for a while. Coming back to it recently has felt like returning to myself. Something lights up in me when I’m in educator mode: sharing ideas, concepts, asking questions, being in real conversation with people. I’ve learned to follow that even when it doesn’t make logical sense yet. I think that’s maybe the most honest thing I can say about social media at this point: I trust where my energy wants to flow, and right now it’s flowing toward my personal brand and back into my role as an educator. I think it’s really important that we ask ourselves, ‘where does my energy naturally want to flow right now?’ And then to listen and trust that.
In regard to my evolution on social media:
Honestly, I have been obsessed with social media ever since I first got my hands on it in 2011!! I remember when I still had a BlackBerry, so I couldn’t get Instagram, and I would steal my boyfriend’s iPhone and post on his Instagram haha. I literally switched to an iPhone just to get IG. It’s incredible what we have at our fingertips. Access to global community, friendship, opportunity, a place to express ourselves and be seen. Of course, there are shadow sides and cons, and we need to be diligent with our boundaries, but overall, it’s been the single greatest tool for my career growth, dream life growth, and many of my most cherished friendships have come from it.
Sidenote: also, I’m grateful I got to have a childhood without it! My teens were all over ICQ, MSN Messenger, MySpace, and Facebook (LOL). As a creative and business owner, I’m just so grateful for how I’ve been able to grow and connect with community through social platforms.
Q: how would you describe your unique approach to leadership and creativity, and what are the core perspectives that shaped it?
A: My approach to leadership and creativity lives inside the perspectives I built through LOTP! A few of which include The Art of Becoming, Devotion to Purposeful Playful Creation, and The Conscious Creative Ecosystem. For me, these aren’t just content themes, they’re truly how I move through the world.
In practice, that looks like: sharing my journey and becomings in real time (not just the polished version but as a recovering perfectionist, this is a WIP!), being honest about the hard parts, staying rooted in creative expression, the courage to be seen and visible, and constantly working on getting out of my own way. Service is the throughline. I want everything I put out to leave people with something → a new way of seeing, a reframe, an energetic shift. And the “playful” part is serious business for a Projector! If it stops being fun, that’s always a signal. For me, keeping it light and playful is about staying creative and connected to divine inspiration.
Q: how did your experience at life of the party compliment or enhance the way you lead your community, online and beyond? was there a moment where you felt a significant shift to your approach, while moving through the program?
A: It was such a profoundly clarifying program. I was really kind of in a creative rut at the time. I had just been through an emotionally challenging season and was feeling a lot of inertia, apathy, and stuckness, which is EXTREMELY out of character for me, but honestly, what a blessing to experience and navigate my way through. I learned so much through that season and signed up instantly because I knew it was what I needed to catalyze action and energy.
LOTP allowed me to take intentional space and redefine how I want to lead now, at this point in my life. I’ve changed a lot since launching Rainbo, and it really allowed me to reflect on who I am, who I’m becoming, and to commit to that. It really energized me and just got me excited about showing up online in an authentic way that can better serve my community.
The moment I felt the biggest shift was when I finished the program and really started implementing my strategy, posting online, and actually seeing it WORK (engagement, shares, comments, and even a paid brand partnership opportunity). But the biggest win for me is my own energy. Feeling confident, wanting to put my ideas out there, moving through fear, feeling expressed and connected to my purpose.
the content ↓
below, you can browse some of tonya’s recent posts where she’s putting her life of the party perspectives + practices into action:
“a collection of meditations, musings and moments”
“i genuinely look forward to eating this every day”
“the practice of looking to nature’s systems to find solutions”
that’s it for now.
