It began when Tamara Taylor boarded her flight from her Chicago hometown after visiting family, and mentally prepared herself to deflect any conversation from her seat row mate. She was in a foul mood after having just been laid off from her corporate job in Orange County, and was headed back west to work out next steps.

As luck would have it, the person sitting next to her, similarly, looked as if it would not feel like talking either, to Taylor’s relief. But, after awhile, he leaned over and asked Taylor to indicate him close an app on his latest iPhone. That led query led to a life-changing conversation.

“This guy, with these fabulous locs and classy outfit was none apart from Law Roach, who was styling full-time on the time,” Taylor tells ESSENCE in regards to the probability encounter in 2013. Her chat with the now-renowned image architect behind A-listers like Zendaya and Megan Thee Stallion amongst others led Taylor to think about a latest profession path: management.

“He was someone who needed help tracking his funds and I used to be someone who was superb with money, excel sheets, and talking to people,” she explained. Taylor, who previously worked in operations management for firms like Enterprise and Burger King, knew she had the transferrable skills to support Roach with the back-end of his styling work. So, she went out on a limb and offered her services to him.

“I used to be working from the ground of my Orange County apartment because I used to be on the point of move back home and sold the whole lot, I just was like, ‘okay, I’m just going to present this a shot.’ So, I began establishing spreadsheets and a QuickBooks account and went to present it to him to make sure him of what I’d have the option to do for his business and cater to his needs. And five minutes in, he says ‘I don’t must see any of that. You’re hired.’”

Her phenomenal work with Roach (he often calls her his angel) led her so as to add Tym Wallace—a celeb hairstylist who’s coiffed Michelle Obama—Zerina Akers [Beyoncé] and Kollin Carter [Cardi B] to her client roster.

Now, she’s celebrating 10 years since she launched her artist management company, Mastermind Mgmt, and recognizing the glam and grooming entrepreneurs she represents in an enormous way.

“We wish to allow them to know that we see them, because they often aren’t recognized for the incredible work they do to create powerful looks for our biggest stars.”

On September 3, she hosted a lavish brunch in LA to honor her clients’ achievements and recognize their considerable contributions to the entertainment industry.

“I actually have been blessed to work with among the most highly sought-after creative talent, whose work has been seen on exclusive red carpets, on A-list celebrities, and in award-winning movies,” she shared in a press release. “As a bit of girl from Chicago it is a dream come true for me, and I’m beyond grateful to have fun this entrepreneurial milestone.”

After greater than a decade of helping talented creatives operationalize their careers, she is aiming to bolster the subsequent generation of glam and grooming entrepreneurs. On the brunch, she announced her latest enterprise, Mastermind Matters.

“It’s a 501 nonprofit organization that we founded to be a resource for creative entrepreneurs,” she tells ESSENCE. “What I noticed being on this industry is that a whole lot of creative artists are first generation entrepreneurs, first generation six and 7 figure earners. And in order that they had among the same barriers to growth lots of us face as we navigate business-building.”

She adds: “All of us need to take part in a big curve of monetary literacy, and other people don’t realize that simply because you’re creative and you’ll be able to earn cash out of your talent, that that mechanically makes you a business owner or a CEO. You will have to set yourself up for that.”

The organization will help creative entrepreneurs with access to tools that support retirement, estate planning, investments and tax prep.

“These financial literacy resources are designed to assist them arrange life beyond the comb. And after I say that, I mean that I implore to ask themselves about their plan beyond providing glam services. After you place down the hairbrush, the nail brush, the makeup brush, the lint brush—What does life seem like for you?”

Mastermind Matters is incredibly timely, just a number of years out from the pandemic-induced shutdown, which put beauty service providers out of labor for several months. And now, glam and grooming artists are facing the truth of the author strikes in Hollywood.

“It’s so vital for them to explore earning opportunities, investment avenues and residual income except for their talent,” Taylor explains. “The actors and actresses aren’t working right away. They’ll’t promote their movies and shows. Meaning a whole lot of my artists who work with actors and actresses aren’t in a position to work right away. ”

Taylor goes on to indicate that her company will not be only focused on managing the present opportunities her clients have, but protecting them from hidden business dangers.

“We do things like taking deep dives into their contracts and earning statements, etc because a whole lot of creatives just don’t know what they don’t know until they undergo it. For instance, they’re told to establish an LLC because they’re entrepreneurs. But then relating to tax time, they’re advised to put in writing the whole lot off. So, now they’re netting negative hundreds of dollars on their tax return, and when it’s time to, apply for a grant to assist replace your income for instance, they don’t have sufficient evidence to prove earnings because the whole lot was written off. You essentially say you don’t make any money. There’s a lot talent working behind the celebs, and we would like them to capitalize off of that for the remainder of their lives. They deserve it. And that’s what I’m here for.”

This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.