07.10.2019

Tayonna Launches Business in Late Brother’s Honor

By Jesse Colman, Treehouse Public Relations Specialist

Tayonna is a force. At the age of 22, she is an alumna of the foster care system with a high school diploma. She’s a survivor of domestic violence, gives back to her community and works with young kids through an after school program. She’s an activist for vulnerable youth, a published author and the list goes on. Tayonna’s even launched her own business, and she’s done it all while managing Graves’ disease.

“I am not a product of my environment but I am a generational curse breaker,” said Tayonna, a participant in our Launch Success program. “Being a teen mom, being addicted to drugs, being homeless—that all runs in my family. I am not going to be that statistic.”

Her message to everyone despite the obstacles they face: “Keep going.”

“I’ve done a lot of growing up in the past five or six years,” Tayonna said. “I wasn’t always doing what I was supposed to be doing. My brother Jaseree would tell me: ‘You’ve got to get back on that positive road. You’ve got to do something that’s going to better your life instead of hurt you.’ ”

Three years ago, her brother was murdered. His passing left a hole in Tayonna’s heart and her life. To honor his memory, she’s taken his advice about the power of positivity and started her own makeup business named after him—Jaseree Cosmetics.

Tayonna has loved makeup for as long as she can remember, often hanging out at beauty stores to watch makeup artists in action but never realizing she could make a profession out of it.

“It wasn’t until my brother’s death that I took the cosmetic industry as a serious career path,” Tayonna said. “My business is just my way of showing people that he was great and that he will always be alive through me.”

Tayonna has plans to turn Jaseree Cosmetics into an affordable makeup line that caters to every skin type and is made with natural ingredients. She wants to take her business on the road and teach other aspiring artists how to do special effects makeup and bridal makeup.

Recently, Tayonna showcased her skills as she applied makeup to Community Engagement Officer Erika Lanier at Treehouse’s offices in Seattle.