Have you ever wondered who helped shape the look of some of music’s biggest stars before she became a headline herself? Tameka Foster worked behind the scenes in fashion long before many people knew her name through Usher. Her story goes well beyond a famous marriage.
The Oakland-raised stylist has worked with major recording artists, raised five sons, written books, and built a charity in memory of a child she lost. She has also spoken in her own words about family, grief, and starting over. There is much more here than an old celebrity news story.
In this article, you’ll learn how her fashion career grew, what her years with Usher meant for her family, and why her books and work with young people matter. Let’s start with the woman behind the public name.
Who Is Tameka Foster?
Tameka Foster is an American fashion stylist, author, and television personality. Also known as Tameka Raymond, she built a career creating looks for music stars, including Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, and Patti LaBelle. She later became widely known for her marriage to singer Usher.
She grew up in Oakland, California, and studied fashion at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. Her work in styling began before she dated the singer. The two married in 2007, had two sons together, and divorced in 2009.
A mother of five, she lost her son Kile Glover in 2012. She has since supported young people through Kile’s World Foundation, published books, and appeared on reality television. Those parts of her life show why she should be seen as more than someone’s former wife.
Oakland Roots and an Early Eye for Style
Fashion was part of Tameka Foster’s life before the cameras arrived. Growing up in Oakland gave her a place to form her own tastes. She later studied at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, a school known for training people for work in clothing and design.
Tameka Foster’s early jobs included retail work. That experience gave her a close view of how clothes fit, how customers shop, and why a look that works on a rack may not work on a person. She also worked as a dresser at Giorgio Armani fashion shows while studying.
These jobs rarely get the same praise as styling a star for a cover shoot. Yet they teach useful skills. A dresser must keep track of items and changes. A retail worker learns to listen to what someone wants while helping them find pieces that feel right.
Those are the kind of details that can shape a long career. In celebrity styling, a great outfit must suit the artist, fit the event, and hold up under lights and cameras. Taste matters, but so do planning and trust.
Building a Career With Music Artists
Before her personal life became tabloid news, Tameka Foster was known in music circles for her work with well-known performers. Her reported clients include Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, and other recording artists.
A stylist’s job is not just to choose clothes that look costly. It often starts with a question: what should this outfit say about the person wearing it? A singer may need a bold stage look one day and a much quieter suit for an interview the next.
For a live show, the clothes also need to move with the performer. Shoes, fabric, and fast costume changes can all affect what works. A camera shoot brings different needs, from how color reads on screen to how pieces look from each angle.
Her career grew around that practical side of fashion. Working with artists helped her build an identity based on a specific skill, long before the public tied her name to one of the biggest voices in R&B.
How Her Friendship With Usher Changed
Tameka Foster knew Usher before they became a couple. In a 2007 interview with ESSENCE, she said they had been friends for nearly seven years and that she had worked as his personal stylist for five.
She also placed the start of their romance in November 2005. That detail matters because it sets out the timeline in her own words, rather than leaving readers to rely on guesses about when a professional bond became personal.
She was already a mother when they began dating. In the interview, she spoke about the role her older children’s father played in their lives and made clear that she did not expect a new partner to replace him.
For a couple working in a public industry, friendship and trust can be a large part of daily life. But the relationship also drew intense attention. Her career became less visible in some coverage as the focus moved toward the singer’s love life.
Marriage, Two Sons, and Divorce
Tameka Foster and Usher married in 2007. Their sons, Usher Raymond V and Naviyd Ely, were born during the marriage. The first arrived in November 2007, and the younger boy was born in December 2008.
They divorced in 2009. That marked the end of their marriage, but not their shared role as parents. In the years that followed, child custody became a major part of their public story.
The legal case brought difficult private questions into open court. In 2012, a judge awarded the singer primary physical custody. A later emergency request to change custody, made after their older son was hurt in a pool accident, was denied in August 2013.
Those rulings describe what happened in court at those times. They should not be used to guess at either parent’s feelings or the full nature of their family life today.
In a 2024 PEOPLE interview, she said that co-parenting was going smoothly. She described a more open way of working together as the boys grew older. That update is important because a family relationship can change over time, even after a very public dispute.
The Loss of Kile Glover
In July 2012, Tameka Foster’s 11-year-old son Kile Glover died after a boating accident at Lake Lanier in Georgia. He had been critically hurt earlier that month. The loss changed her family and became a turning point in her life.
Years later, she spoke about her grief in interviews tied to her memoir. Rather than present the loss as a detail in another person’s story, she described the pain of being a mother who had lost a child.
Grief is not something a person finishes on a set date. It can affect holidays, family moments, and ordinary days. Her public comments have focused on remembering her son and finding ways to carry love for him into future work.
That led to efforts designed for children who need chances to learn, create, and grow. The goal was not to erase what happened. It was to give his memory a lasting place in work that could help others.
Kile’s World Foundation and Work for Children
Tameka Foster founded Kile’s World Foundation to honor her son. Tameka Foster’s nonprofit has focused on creative and educational opportunities for young people, including arts-related programs for children and teens.
Art can give a child a way to explore ideas that are hard to put into words. Music, drawing, and performance also teach teamwork and help build confidence. Access to those activities can matter even more when a family has few local options.
The foundation links a deeply personal loss to a larger purpose. It reflects the belief that young people deserve space to try new skills and find out what they enjoy.
The charity’s past work is part of her public record. Specific current program dates, funding totals, and enrollment details would need a fresh check with the group before anyone relied on them. Its purpose, however, remains clear in her interviews about her son’s memory.
Writing About Her Own Life in Here I Stand
In September 2021, Tameka Foster released Here I Stand: …in a Beautiful State. The memoir lets her tell events from her own point of view. The book covers her early life, fashion work, public relationships, hard experiences, and the loss of Kile.
Its title points toward a theme of carrying on after painful change. Readers may know her from court stories or TV, but a memoir gives its writer room to explain how those events felt to her.
That does not mean every memory in a personal book should be treated as a court finding. A memoir is one person’s account. Its value is in the perspective it offers, especially when the author has often been spoken about by other people.
For someone whose name spent years in headlines, the choice to write at length made sense. A book gives more room for reflection than a quick response to a news story ever could.
Turning Fashion Experience Into a Book
Tameka Foster also wrote White Bras & 101 Other Style Faux Pas, a guide built around fashion mistakes and useful tips. It draws on the kind of choices stylists make every day, such as matching undergarments to clothing and building outfits that look polished without feeling forced.
Many people enjoy clothes but feel unsure about the small details. What works under a light top? Why does one outfit sit well while another looks off? A stylist can answer those questions in ways a shopper can use.
The book marks a different kind of creative work from a celebrity wardrobe. Instead of putting looks together for a few clients, she turned her experience into advice for a wider audience.
That is an extension of a career, not a sudden shift to an unrelated field. Her knowledge of fit, fabric, and presentation is what gives the guide its place in her story.
From Reality Television to New Audiences
Tameka Foster’s television work includes VH1’s Atlanta Exes, which aired in 2014. The series followed women with former relationships to famous men and gave them time to speak about their own plans and lives.
Years later, she appeared on WE tv’s Bold & Bougie, a reality series built around a group of women navigating work, friendship, and personal change. The format brought her back to viewers who had known her from earlier coverage.
Reality TV can show real parts of a person’s day, but it still has editing, deadlines, and story choices. A scene on a show is not a complete picture of a human being.
In her case, these appearances added another public role to a career that began behind the scenes. She moved from helping performers shape their image to speaking for herself on camera.
A Creative Project Inspired by Her Son
Beyond the foundation, Tameka Foster developed the idea for an animated series called The Odd Life of Kile Lyles. The project centers on a young boy with a lively imagination and unusual adventures.
Tameka Foster has discussed it as a way to keep her son’s spirit and love of creativity alive. Animation also gives a story freedom that live action may not have. It can turn a child’s big ideas into bright worlds and strange events.
Public discussion of a project does not prove that a full series has been released or is streaming. The well-supported fact is that she developed and promoted the concept. Its creative aim links back to her work for children and her son’s memory.
This is a distinct part of her career. It moves beyond clothing and into storytelling, while keeping young people at the heart of the idea.
Why Her Career Should Not Be Reduced to a Marriage
Celebrity coverage can make one relationship seem like the whole life of a person. Tameka Foster’s record shows why that can be misleading. Her styling work began before she married Usher. Her writing and charity work continued long after they split.
None of those achievements makes the hard parts of her life less real. A person can build a career, go through divorce, grieve a child, and still find new ways to create something useful.
It is also fair to leave room for what the public does not know. Her personal routines and current private relationships are not needed to understand her work. What matters most is the record she has chosen to build and share.
That record includes fashion, books, television, motherhood, and efforts to give children more chances to explore the arts. These are separate strands of one life, not extra details added to a celebrity marriage story.
Final Thoughts
What stays with me about Tameka Foster’s story is how much of it began before the fame that brought her into the news. She had already built real skills in fashion and worked with major artists. The years that followed brought family joys, public strain, and deep loss.
Her work as a stylist, author, mother, and founder of a children’s charity gives a fuller view of who she is. The key lesson is simple: no one part of a life, good or bad, should erase everything else.
Tameka Foster has kept creating and finding ways to use her experience. That is a more lasting identity than any headline about a former marriage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which fashion school did she attend?
She studied at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, often called FIDM, in California.
Did she work at Giorgio Armani fashion shows?
Yes. Biographical accounts of her early career describe her work as a dresser at Armani shows while she was studying fashion.
What is the name of her memoir?
It is Here I Stand: …in a Beautiful State, released in September 2021.
What was her first major reality series?
She joined the cast of VH1’s Atlanta Exes, which began airing in August 2014.
How is her animated project connected to her family?
The Odd Life of Kile Lyles was developed in honor of her late son, with a story focused on a creative young boy.
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