---
title: ✨ Throwback to the first hustle — I Didn't Want A Business. I Wanted Options.
description: How a blinged-out phone case spotted by Paris Hilton catapulted Tori Torres from single mom to celebrity designer. From Beyoncé to the Kardashians, discover the glam story behind PoshLifeBling and how it laid the foundation for The Posh Girls Club empire.
image: https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/hubfs/Screenshot%202025-07-17%20172606.png
---

[Skip to content](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/throwback-to-the-first-hustle-#main-content)

 Jul 19, 2025, 12:53:40 PM

# ✨ Throwback to the first hustle — I Didn't Want A Business. I Wanted Options.

![Picture of PoshTori](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/8adb4237fd6c186b5c6b076b554d11a0) [PoshTori](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/author/poshtori)

Share: [facebook-f icon](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/throwback-to-the-first-hustle-) [linkedin-in icon](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/throwback-to-the-first-hustle-) [Twitter icon](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/throwback-to-the-first-hustle-) [pinterest-p icon](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/throwback-to-the-first-hustle-) [envelope icon](mailto:?body=https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/throwback-to-the-first-hustle-)

 

## Before the brand, there was a reason.

When people hear the Posh Life Bling story now, they usually hear the fun parts.

The rhinestones.

The celebrities.

Paris Hilton.

The press.

The six-figure business that somehow grew out of my home.

Those are all true.

But they aren't the reason I started.

**I started because I needed options.**

At the time, I was a young mother raising two boys and living inside a marriage that wasn't the future I had imagined for myself.

And somewhere underneath all of the day-to-day responsibilities of being a wife and a mother, I knew something very clearly:

**I needed to be able to take care of myself.**

Not eventually.

Not if everything went according to plan.

I needed to know that if my life changed, I had choices.

That desire—to have choices—would end up becoming one of the most important forces in my life.

## I Didn't Announce That I Was Becoming an Entrepreneur

There wasn't some dramatic moment when I stood up and declared:

*I'm starting a business.*

I wasn't trying to become a founder.

I was trying to build something that belonged to me.

Something that could create income.

Something I could grow while still being present for my children.

Something that gave me a little more control over what happened next.

So I started where I was.

At home.

With two little boys nearby.

With a computer.

With glue.

With crystals.

And eventually, with a phone that would change far more than I understood at the time.

The details of how that first crystal phone became Posh Life Bling are a story of their own.

But the reason I kept going was bigger than a phone.

**Every order represented another little piece of independence.**

## The Internet Was Different Then

It's funny thinking about entrepreneurship in 2006 from where we sit now.

There was no Instagram.

No TikTok.

No Canva.

No endless stream of creators explaining their morning routine as a six-figure founder. 😂

Social media as we know it barely existed.

But there was **MySpace**.

And baby, I used MySpace. 😂

I posted.

I connected.

I talked directly to people.

I showed them what I was making.

I paid attention to what they responded to.

There wasn't a sophisticated content strategy behind it.

It was instinct.

**Show people something worth looking at. Talk to them like human beings. Make it easy for them to want what you're selling.**

Twenty years later, I'm not entirely convinced marketing has become much more complicated than that.

We've just invented significantly more terminology for it.

## Then Paris Hilton Found It

There are moments in your life that only make sense looking backward.

Paris Hilton discovering my work was one of those.

She was one of the biggest pop-culture figures in the world—and exactly the kind of woman Posh Life Bling was made for.

Bold.

Glamorous.

Unapologetically extra.

When she had my product, suddenly people wanted to know:

**Where did she get that?**

And things moved.

More attention.

More inquiries.

More opportunities.

More people finding this little business I'd been building from home.

Eventually came other celebrities. Red carpets. Entertainment events. Press. Bigger orders. Bigger rooms.

The business grew.

But something else was growing with it.

**Me.**

## Every Order Was Evidence

This is the part I don't think I understood while I was living it.

Money mattered.

Of course it did.

I had children. I had bills. I wanted security.

But earning my own money gave me something beyond the money itself.

It gave me evidence.

Evidence that I could create something.

Evidence that somebody would pay for something I'd imagined.

Evidence that I could solve problems.

Evidence that I could learn things I had never been taught.

Evidence that I could walk into rooms where nobody had invited me yet.

And eventually:

**Evidence that I would be okay if I chose a different life.**

That's an incredibly powerful thing for a woman to discover about herself.

## Independence Changed My Definition of Success

When I was younger, success looked like the obvious things.

Money.

Recognition.

The right people knowing your name.

Seeing something you created in places you never imagined it would go.

And I'm not going to pretend those things weren't exciting.

They were.

But at this point in my life, I understand success differently.

**Success is having choices.**

It's being able to leave something that no longer fits.

It's being able to change your mind.

It's being able to support yourself.

It's being able to build again after something ends.

It's knowing that your entire future isn't dependent on another person making the decision you hope they'll make.

That kind of freedom isn't nearly as photogenic as a celebrity holding your product.

But it has been infinitely more valuable to me.

## The First Hustle Gave Me More Than a Business

Posh Life Bling eventually became something much bigger than the little operation I started at home.

But the greatest thing it gave me wasn't a celebrity client list.

It wasn't press.

It wasn't revenue.

**It was self-trust.**

I learned that I could have an idea and act on it.

I could enter an industry I knew nothing about and learn.

I could make mistakes and recover.

I could build something people wanted.

And if one chapter of my life stopped working?

I could build another one.

I've had to prove that to myself more than once since then.

And every time I have, somewhere underneath the woman figuring out her next move is still that young mother sitting at home thinking:

**I need options.**

She built them.

And I've been building them ever since.

**XX PoshTori**

[![Screenshot 2025-07-17 172606](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202025-07-17%20172606.png?width=988&height=562&name=Screenshot%202025-07-17%20172606.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWcsOp26NA&ab_channel=ToriTorres)

[![4d1f6f8a-18ef-4547-941e-ad8bb1f7c4f6](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/hs-fs/hubfs/4d1f6f8a-18ef-4547-941e-ad8bb1f7c4f6.png?width=960&height=1440&name=4d1f6f8a-18ef-4547-941e-ad8bb1f7c4f6.png)](https://linktr.ee/poshtori)

 

[alignment](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/alignment), [entrepreneurship](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/entrepreneurship), [origin story](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/origin-story), [poshlifebling](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/poshlifebling), [Mami life](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/mami-life)

## Related posts

[![](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202025-07-17%20151107.png?height=200&name=Screenshot%202025-07-17%20151107.png)](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/from-bling-to-brand-power-the-sparkle-behind-the-posh-girls-club)

## [💎 From Bling to Brand Power: The Sparkle Behind The Posh Girls Club](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/from-bling-to-brand-power-the-sparkle-behind-the-posh-girls-club)

![Picture of PoshTori](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/8adb4237fd6c186b5c6b076b554d11a0) [PoshTori](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/author/poshtori) 

 Jul 17, 2025, 3:30:32 PM

Before The Posh Girls Club, before Silicon Valley, before the courses, the corporate titles, the...

[Read more](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/from-bling-to-brand-power-the-sparkle-behind-the-posh-girls-club)

[![](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202025-07-17%20153112.png?height=200&name=Screenshot%202025-07-17%20153112.png)](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/how-a-crystal-phone-case-changed-everything)

## [How a Crystal Phone Case Changed Everything 💎](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/how-a-crystal-phone-case-changed-everything)

![Picture of PoshTori](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/8adb4237fd6c186b5c6b076b554d11a0) [PoshTori](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/author/poshtori) 

 Jul 19, 2025, 1:52:26 PM

Where Sparkle Met Hustle... Before the celebrities, the magazine features, the red carpets and the...

[Read more](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/how-a-crystal-phone-case-changed-everything)

[![](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/hs-fs/hubfs/eede67_cf889d3d0a5646d2806a6ebedcef5add~mv2.jpg?height=200&name=eede67_cf889d3d0a5646d2806a6ebedcef5add~mv2.jpg)](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/how-your-story-becomes-the-bridge-to-your-people)

[self awareness](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/self-awareness), [entrepreneurship](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/entrepreneurship), [origin story](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/origin-story), [poshlifebling](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/tag/poshlifebling)

## [How Your Story Becomes the Bridge to Your People](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/how-your-story-becomes-the-bridge-to-your-people)

![Picture of PoshTori](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/8adb4237fd6c186b5c6b076b554d11a0) [PoshTori](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/author/poshtori) 

 Sep 1, 2025, 10:59:54 AM

[Read more](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/how-your-story-becomes-the-bridge-to-your-people)

- [Home](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/home)
- [PoshTori](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/poshtori)
- [The Edit™](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/edits)
- [The Edit Studio](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/the-edit-studio)
- [The Journal](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/posh-journal)
- [The Podcast](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/the-podcast)
- [The Society](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/the-society)
- [Get In Touch](https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/get-in-touch)

---

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "PoshTori",
    "url" : "https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/author/poshtori"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2026-09-10T14:06:33.118Z",
  "datePublished" : "2025-07-19T16:53:40.000Z",
  "headline" : "✨ Throwback to the first hustle — I Didn't Want A Business. I Wanted Options.",
  "image" : [ "https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/hubfs/Screenshot%202025-07-17%20172606.png" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://www.theposhgirlsclub.com/blog/throwback-to-the-first-hustle-",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject"
    }
  }
}
```