Today we’d like to introduce you to Taye Hefner.
Hi Taye , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Styling and influencing those around me? I feel like I’ve done that my entire life. My mom can sew a 3-piece suit with a needle and thread and she loves dressing up, so I learned from her. But, I specifically remember the moment it got real for me. I remember coming outside to play one day, I had to be about 8 or 9 years old looking tore up. I just had hopped out of bed and came outside in pajamas and a white tank top and my dad was so mad. He told me “you never let anybody see you outside looking like this again” because he took pride in us looking presentable and not wearing inside clothes, outside. Not to be dressed to impress, but at least put on at least decent play clothes. From that moment on, I remember putting effort into every outfit and dressing all my sisters and friends.
Professionally, I started as a senior at Southern University in Baton Rouge and my first photoshoot was with my best friend who was also a photographer at the time Deejay (whose now a famous tik-toker with over 1 million followers) and one of the most beautiful girls at my school Melody Byrd. She was so pretty and one of the it-girls. She was on the dance team and just an all-around epitome of beauty and grace. I waited to get my refund check to pay both of them to let me put the photoshoot together and I kept going. Fast forward, my first big client was rapper and reality tv star Young Lyric, and still to this day, she’s one of my most consistent clients.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been very rough. A lot of people don’t understand your art and the way that you choose to express your art, but what I’ve learned is that the people that get it, GET IT. The people that don’t get it just DON’T and that’s ok. You’ll get criticized along the way, it happens to every great person. They’re crazy before they make it. I have messaged 1000 brands, 1000 influencers, and 1000 creatives to pull off a few amazing shoots. You will get 1000 no’s and 2000 “no responses” along the way. I’m grateful for the people that give me chances to elevate their look. You have to be persistent and just know that what you’re doing will land you in the rooms that you’ve always dreamed of being in and SOON, those dreams will become reality.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a content creator, wardrobe stylist, and photographer who lives in Houston, TX. I have garnered over 300,000 social media followers and over 100 million views from various social platforms. I built my social platform through content creation, relationship influencing, bold wardrobe, and hosting countless urban & cultural events alongside many of today’s most current urban social influencers.
My approach to wardrobe is extremely bold. I don’t like boring at all and nothing in my character gives boring.
My creative work has been featured across many notable platforms which include BET, Hype Magazine, Sheen Magazine, Voyage Houston, and a host of many other outlets for my work with reality television stars from Lifetime, Zeus, VH1 and other cultural influencers.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was very intelligent, really spoiled, really popular, kind of a socialite. I grew up the baby of 10 on my dad’s side and the baby of 4 on my mom’s side, so you can kinda understand the dynamic. My dad was the cool guy as you can tell, and my brothers were popular, and the city that I was raised in has a population of 10,000, so everybody already knows everybody. I took pride in two things, everybody knowing that I was smart and everybody knowing that I can dress! I loved expressing my art through the way I dressed. That was my art. I loved it! I remember me and my classmates used to have friendly shoe competitions. I competed with one classmate for who had the most Converse and a different classmate with Jordans and I used to come every week keeping up with them both!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/tayehefner
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BiojrzKDN/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Twitter: https://x.com/tayehefner?s=21
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@tayehefner?si=EMYqYzcuH42g-oQG
