Today we’d like to introduce you to Tomika Anderson.
Hi Tomika, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My career began in journalism, where I spent years writing and producing for major outlets, profiling celebrities from Rihanna to Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Serena Williams, Dave Chappelle, and Usher. When I became pregnant with my son, I transitioned into federal consulting and government contracting because stability mattered more than ever. But I never stopped building. While I was pregnant, I started what would become Single Parents Who Travel as a Facebook community, and around the time my son was born, I launched Manifest Greatness Media. For years I built both businesses nights, weekends, and every spare moment while continuing my government career.
Then the federal contract I was working on unexpectedly came to an end. Suddenly I had a decision to make: pursue another contract and keep treating my companies as side businesses, or finally bet on myself. I chose to go all in. Today, Manifest Greatness Media leads national communications campaigns for clients across the commercial and public sectors, and Single Parents Who Travel has grown into a global community of more than 16,000 parents, taking families everywhere from Egypt and South Africa to Bali and Indonesia for close to a decade. We’ve been honored by META and featured in Forbes, Good Morning America, and Today.com.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road. For years I lived two professional lives, working in government consulting by day, then building Manifest Greatness Media and Single Parents Who Travel at night and on weekends while raising my son. Neither business appeared overnight; both were built client by client, trip by trip. When my federal contract ended, I had to choose between chasing another contract or finally devoting myself completely to what I’d been building for years. I chose entrepreneurship and that meant resilience every single day: winning clients against larger agencies, learning entirely new industries, managing cash flow, selling group travel experiences, hiring a team, parenting, and continuing to believe. There wasn’t one defining breakthrough. There were hundreds of small decisions to keep showing up.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m the Founder and CEO of Manifest Greatness Media (MGM), Single Parents Who Travel, and Motivated Mamas. At MGM, we provide strategic communications, public relations, marketing, branding, and change management services for organizations across the commercial, nonprofit, government, and federal contracting sectors, helping visionary leaders and mission-driven organizations tell stories that build credibility, influence, and measurable results. In 2025, Manifest Greatness Media was officially certified by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as an Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB), positioning our firm for expanded opportunities in the federal marketplace and strengthening our ability to partner with government agencies and prime contractors on strategic communications initiatives.
Before launching MGM full time, I spent more than two decades as an award-winning journalist, producer, and communications strategist, with work appearing on CNN, BET, MTV, Entertainment Weekly, the Associated Press, Essence, Ebony, Black Enterprise, People, New York Magazine, and more. I’ve interviewed everyone from Beyoncé and Serena Williams to Dave Chappelle and Usher, and later transitioned into government consulting, supporting communications initiatives for organizations including Microsoft, the Defense Logistics Agency, UNESCO, and the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable. Today, our MGM clients have been featured in Forbes, Good Morning America, NBC, Essence, USA Today, and The Washington Post.
Under my leadership, Manifest Greatness Media has earned recognition for its commitment to strategic storytelling and communications excellence. In 2025, MGM was named Best PR or Marketing Firm at The Washington Informer’s inaugural Best of the DMV Awards, a highly competitive program that attracted nearly 1,700 nominations and more than 15,000 public votes across the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region. This year, MGM was also honored with a nomination for InsideNoVa’s Best of Prince William, recognizing businesses making a meaningful impact in the community.
Outside of MGM, my greatest passion is Single Parents Who Travel, which I founded while pregnant with my son because I wanted single parents to experience the world without waiting for “someday” or a partner to make it possible. What began as a Facebook community has grown into an international travel company serving more than 16,000 parents, with annual group trips since 2015 to destinations including Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, Egypt, South Africa, and Indonesia. I also founded Motivated Mamas, where I coach single mothers to build successful careers, businesses, and fulfilling lives.
What ties all three businesses together is the same mission: helping people believe bigger is possible—and equipping them with the strategy, confidence, and opportunities to make it happen.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t think luck built Manifest Greatness Media or Single Parents Who Travel and even Motivated Mamas, the work did. But I’d be lying if I said luck played no part at all. The bad luck was real: the federal contract I was depending on ended without warning, at a moment when I had two businesses I’d only ever built on the side. That wasn’t a plan, it was a forced hand. The good luck was what that loss made possible, it pushed me to finally go all in on the things I’d been quietly building for years instead of treating them as a side project forever.
What changed things wasn’t a lucky break, it was realizing that the communities I was building, Single Parents Who Travel and Motivated Mamas, exist precisely because no parent is meant to do this alone. Once I let people in, the work got stronger, not weaker. So if luck opened a door, it was the willingness to stop trying to carry everything solo that let me actually walk through it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://manifestgreatnessmedia.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manifestgreatnessmedia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ManifestGreatnessLLC/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/manifestgreatnessmedia/
