Shantell Thomas

She never met a stranger! You'll agree when meeting her, she instantaneously connects to your sense of humanity. She fervently believes that the tapestry of our lives has interwoven pieces. This innate character is measurably responsible for her success in the field of technology marketing with companies like IBM, Qlik, Cisco and currently - Avalara.

She is a proud graduate of Saint Augustine’s University, a local HBCU in Raleigh, NC. She has more than her B.A. in Communications to thank them for because it is where she made lifelong friendships, joined the first black sorority – Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and met her husband, Chad Thomas, also a Saint Aug alum which she united with in the college chapel in 2000.

They've resided in the triangle area since meeting and marrying at St. Aug and along the way, they've raised one HBCU graduate - Chad Thomas, II (NCA&T State University), one HBCU attendee - Chase Thomas (Howard University) with one more future HBCU graduate, Chance Thomas (age 11, Grade 5).

She did not travel far to make the Triangle area her home since she hails from the South Carolina lowcountry, but she has traveled further than her family dreamed. She was raised by a “blended” family which consisted of every family member on a street, that’s named in their honor. Southern is as real as her drawl and her open spirit – makes you want to “porchsit” with her on a sunny day.

More than anything, she’s a creator at heart, which has served her well as a Technology Marketer and more recently as the visionary behind the GRITSyall brand created to use her life as a mirror for others to move toward their own destiny – on winding, crooked or straight pathways.

By day, she's driving marketing strategy for more than one hundred companies in the Avalara partner ecosystem and like most mothers and wives, by nightfall, she's trying to figure out what's for dinner!