From a Shaved Head to a Permanent Jewelry Studio: Tashi Speed on Self-Care, Betting on Yourself, and Refusing to Be Disrespected

Tashi Speed walked into 216 Coworking in downtown Cartersville as the founder of two purpose-driven luxury brands, and by the end of the conversation, host Logan Lewis had gotten a lot more than an elevator pitch. Tashi runs Ruby T Shaving and Dream Keys and Links, the permanent jewelry studio she operates out of Alpharetta, built after she walked away from a corporate restaurant career that eventually cost her her eyesight. She talked about growing up in Southwest Georgia, the health crisis that forced her to quit, the shaved head that turned into a shaving line, the hand-stamped house keys that turned into a jewelry business, and why, at 37, she has zero tolerance left for disrespect, no matter who is dishing it out.

From Albany, Georgia to a Life She Refused to Put in a Box

Tashi grew up in Albany, Georgia, part of a big, tight-knit family, dancing, doing theater, and cheering for the South Georgia Wildcats arena football team. "Most people don't know that I have a background in dance and theater and singing," she told Logan. She moved to Atlanta in 2008 to study fashion design and marketing, chasing a path that felt like the only real option growing up. But the traditional script never fit. "There must be something else," she remembers thinking. "It was a box, and I don't like boxes." That refusal to stay inside the lines became the thread running through everything she's built since: "I truly do not believe we were intended to be in a box and be labeled as something."

Losing Her Eyesight, Finding Her Exit

After college, Tashi worked her way through the restaurant industry, eventually helping open eight or nine Grub Burger Bar locations, starting with the very first one in Smyrna, and climbing to management. It came at a cost. She described giving the job everything she had, arriving before sunrise and leaving after dark, until her body started shutting down. "I literally was losing my eyesight," she said. Doctors checked her eyes, found nothing wrong, and sent her to a neurologist instead. She ended up in the hospital, unable to eat properly, completely run down. "My body was tired. My body was wore out. And so I had to pivot," she said. That scare, layered on top of workplace mistreatment she alluded to without detailing, pushed her out of corporate life for good in 2017.

Ruby T Shaving: Born From a Shaved Head and a Burning Scalp

Tashi's first brand started with an impulsive decision: she woke up one day and shaved her head, no appointment, no plan. When the standard razors and creams left her scalp burning, she couldn't find anything better, so she made it herself. A friend with her own natural skincare line taught her product formulation in exchange for help on a project, rather than cash: "Can you pay me by teaching me how to formulate natural products? I don't want your money. I want your experience." The name Ruby T layers together the T-shaped double-edge safety razor she uses and Ruby, tied to her spiritual journey and what she learned about the stone itself: one of the toughest, most durable minerals out there, more durable than a diamond.

Dream Keys and Links: How Stamped House Keys Became a Permanent Jewelry Business

Jewelry has been part of Tashi's life since childhood, untangling and repairing pieces for her mom, aunts, and grandmother. The business took real shape after she left Grub Burger Bar and got involved with a children's foundation, hand-stamping the word "Dream" onto old house keys and selling them on Etsy and at markets to raise money for kids' school supplies and uniforms, which is where the name Dream Keys and Links comes from. She stepped away for a stretch, then picked it back up about three years ago and taught herself permanent jewelry welding through what she calls "YouTube University." She's never run a paid ad; the business grew entirely through networking groups like Y'all Pal, the Woodstock Business Club, Crabapple, and Canton. What keeps her going is less about the metal and more about the people: "It's so much more than the jewelry for me. It's the connection... sometimes I get emotional after I've had a pop-up."

"You Don't Get a Pass Because You're Old": Tashi on Calling Out Disrespect

One of the episode's title themes came through loudest in two stories. The first: her last day at Grub Burger Bar, when she confronted a manager who had treated her poorly. "I gave him the business before I left those doors," she said. "That dude left work that day a different person than he was when he got there." The second was more personal. At a family dinner, her grandfather flagged down a waitress across the room by rattling his cup of ice at her. Tashi told him to put his hand down, and later got an earful from her mom for correcting an elder. Her stance hasn't softened: "You don't get a pass because you're old. I don't care how many wars you've served in, I don't care what you've gone through. You need to be held accountable. Period." For Tashi, respect is earned, not assumed, especially toward service workers who can't defend themselves in the moment.

Self-Care, Cats, and Betting on Herself

When Logan asked what a true day off looks like, Tashi described a full ritual: no phone first thing, warm water with lime, a stretch and dance session, mushroom coffee, watering plants with her cat Oliver, a trip to the gym for the sauna, steam room, and pool, and often a facial or a yoni steam at home. In the rapid-fire round she named 300 and Princess and the Frog as her comfort movies, and picked Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, and Lil Wayne as her dream festival headliners. But the answer that stuck came last, when Logan asked what gets her out of bed every morning. "I am my morning drive," she said. "I made a pact with myself years ago that I'm choosing to stick around and to stay and to live. So I'm gonna give it all I got... if I'm my best self, then I can be my best self for everybody around me."

Listen to the Full Conversation

Tashi Speed's story is a reminder that reinvention rarely follows a straight line, and that self-respect and self-care aren't optional extras, they're the foundation everything else is built on. Catch the full conversation on Your Morning Drive, recorded at 216 Coworking in downtown Cartersville, GA, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. To book a permanent jewelry pop-up or shop Ruby T Shaving, find Dream Keys and Links in Alpharetta near North Point Mall, and follow Your Morning Drive for a new conversation every week.