Fashion icon and mother of three, Tameka Foster Raymond, returns with her groundbreaking memoir, Here I Stand in a Beautiful State.
In the book, Tameka unveils her journey of overcoming past traumas. The serial entrepreneur and fashion stylist courageously opens up about healing, including the loss of her son Kile and her ongoing custody battle with ex-husband Usher Raymond IV. Teaming up with Drumma Boy, the author is expected to release an audible version that blends both storytelling and music.
Tameka spoke with rolling out to discuss her path to healing and recent collaboration.
What are some things you discovered about yourself during this journey?
I talk a lot. I’ve known that since elementary school. I got enough detentions for it, but I’m vocal. I like to express myself when things make me mad. I don’t know how to hold my tongue. I’m not good with that. I don’t sugarcoat things. It’s a gift and a curse. What you see is what you get. If you’re my friend and you’re around me, I’m going to tell you how I feel 90 percent of the time. I’m going to be honest. That’s a gift and a curse because a lot of people don’t like honesty. They don’t want to hear about themselves and people don’t want to have a mirror held up to them.
[I also discovered] that I’ve broken some hearts too and wasn’t as careful with people’s feelings as I should have been. That’s the thing about writing a book, even if you don’t put a book out, it’s always good. I encourage everyone to write down their feelings, their thoughts and just purge it all out of their head. That’s exactly what I did.
What has your healing journey been like?
Self-care for me requires a plane ticket. [When I lost] my son, I traveled and it helped me to see how other cultures dealt with death and loss. In other countries, they celebrate it. Whereas in America, it’s such a sad thing for us. It’s still sad there too I would imagine, but travel just helped open my eyes to other cultures. It made me have a lot of gratitude for my life and lifestyle, to see people with very little so happy and in a beautiful state at all times.
What was it like collaborating with Drumma Boy on the audible version of your memoir?
It is beyond great. Drumma Boy is the bomb. He heard my audiobook and this time it wasn’t scored. I had sound effects in the book. I decided I wanted to have small sounds that put you in the mind of the stories I was telling. I said, “You really should score my book.”
He has a super musical background, comes from an orchestra family and all this stuff. He put music to [my book] and it’s great. The audiobook is cool because you can read the book and listen to it at the same time.
