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Celestine Ann “Tina” Beyoncé Knowles is an American businesswoman, fashion designer, author, and philanthropist from Galveston, TX known for establishing the brands House of Deréon and Miss Tina by Tina Knowles.

Tina Knowles is best known for being the mother of Grammy award-winning sisters Solange Knowles and Beyonce Knowles-Carter. She started out as a hairdresser in Houston, TX, and eventually became the designer for Destiny’s Child. Over the years, Mama Tina has received countless book deal offers, but she turned them down. She figured people only wanted her to have a book deal at that time, to be nosy about her family.

Her book tour kicked off on April 30th in Washington, D.C., moderated by Mrs. Michelle Obama. As she continues her tour and has been to Los Angeles, California, and Houston, TX, she stopped in Atlanta, GA, on Thursday, May 8th, at the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was packed from top to bottom with options for guests to get drinks at the bar, order food, as well as enter into different rooms to purchase Matriarch books and Cécred bags. As guests waited, music by Salt-N-Pepa, Jay-Z, Earth Wind and Fire, Aretha, Tina Turner, and even Beyonce filled the room.

Before the show started, portraits of Mama Tina and her family came across the screen, even baby pictures of Solange and Beyonce. The photos from the book tour screening can be found in her book as well. Tyler Perry moderated the show and opened up with the question, “What does Matriarch mean to you?”. She responded with, “A mother figure. She doesn’t have to be your biological mother, it can be someone in your life that you go to when there is turmoil or when decisions need to be made. The Matriarch gives you hope.”

“The first weapon I held was my mother’s hand,” was the quote that Tyler Perry opened up with. Mama Tina goes into detail about her parents and what they did for a living. Mama Tina grew up as an adult to learn and realize that her mother made more money than her father, but her mother never allowed her father to lose his dignity; that is something Mama Tina kept with her the rest of her life.

As a child, she was very wild and bad, as she said. Mama Tina really believes that, as a child, she had ADHD. “My mind was constantly racing, it was all over the place.” Later on in life, it all worked out as she became a fashion designer. With her mind constantly racing, all the different beads and patterns that she expressed in her fashion allowed her the escape that was needed. Uncle Johnny came up in conversation as well. Mama Tina was very close with him as he was only 4 years older than she was. His journey with AIDS was difficult, but as she explained, he was always a loving person and Uncle Johnny to the end.

The tour continued with conversations about her marriage and relationship with Matthew Knowles. Her words of encouragement moved everyone in the room, and her transparency is what the book is all about. The book reveals old wounds from her past, how her daughters have helped her heal, and what she looks forward to in the near future. The book is 398 pages long, full of stories that created the Matriarch.

 

Photo Credit: Photo Provided