Tina Knowles has worked as a businesswoman, fashion designer, and hairstylist, but the job she’s proudest of is her role as “Matriarch,” which is also the apt title of her 2025 autobiography. At Variety’s Entertainment Marketing Summit presented by Deloitte, Knowles and Variety’s Senior Entertainment Writer Angelique Jackson dove into her history and talked about what inspired her business decisions and collaborating with her family, including her daughter Beyoncé.
When she was freshly divorced, Knowles began chronicling her life as a personal project. She credited writing the book with helping her navigate her insecurities and grief over the relationship ending.
“I was 59 years old, which is really funny, because I’m 72 now and that’s not old, but back at 59 I was like, ‘Oh my God, my life is over,’” said Knowles. “I started recording into my telephone, not for a book, but to leave it to my kids, because I felt my mortality. If I die, my children wouldn’t know anything about their history, because they are just not very interested in it. I would try to tell them stories, and they wouldn’t listen. So, I was like, they’re gonna be real sorry one day.”
“Matriarch” also reflected on Knowles’ career trajectory, with Knowles noting she often worked out of necessity and didn’t receive proper credit for her contributions.
Knowles says she has finally learned to take credit for her achievements, including her House of Deréon clothing line with Beyoncé, and previous work designing costumes for Destiny’s Child, something the band’s label was not happy with.
“They were constantly trying to get rid of me,” said Knowles, who explains the label often saw her costumes as “country.” “Some of them, I look back on [and] I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, but a lot of them were amazing, and it set them apart. I think that was a big part of what made them special and different, aside from the talent, because they were super talented, and I’m not taking away from that, but the imaging had a lot to do with it. Sometimes I get sad about it, because I look back at pictures and I’m like, that was really good. But the record label was constantly tearing it down and saying, ‘They need to look like Britney Spears, and they need to have on a midriff top and some jeans.’ They even tried to get rid of me a couple of times, which didn’t work, thank God.”
House of Deréon was not the duo’s last business endeavor, as the mother/daughter team launched the hair care line Cécred in 2024.
“With textured hair, we needed lots of oils and butter, so I would mix up in my salon hot oil treatments with egg whites and things like that,” said Knowles, who ran a hair salon in Texas for many years. “It was always a dream for me and Beyoncé, because she grew up in the salon, that we would have a product that would do all of that.”
After an extensive testing process, the pair launched their line of products, which Knowles says they both use. “Our customers did videos and TikToks, and they advertise, and they sell the product for us. We’ve won like 64 awards, and we’ve all been out less than two years. It was the number one launch at Ulta, and that is huge. And we did it with the help of our customers; they’ve come along with us through the journey.”
Starting a haircare line felt “authentic” to Knowles, who said that the support and camaraderie she found at her salon made the business “way more than a hair salon.” Knowles hopes to keep that sense of community going, giving away 10 beauty school scholarships each year through Cécred. She says her role as “Mama Tina” means the most to her of all her titles, allowing her to help guide young people.
Wrapping up the conversation, Knowles mentioned her new venture, Badass Teenie B Productions, and emphasized the value of staying authentic and taking pride in your achievements.
“It’s something about turning 70 that lets you know that you should take credit,” Knowles said. “It’s a difference between being humble and not getting your just due. It’s a difference, and I wish I would have known that earlier in life.”
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