Tameka Foster

Career

Foster attended the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in 1994, followed by a Merchandising Marketing major in Los Angeles. Her professional career started with her employment as a salesperson; she has also worked in management. During her attendance at the Fashion Institute, Foster worked for Armani in the retail store and since then, has styled numerous international celebrities including Jay-Z, Ciara, Nas and Mary J. Blige.

Foster's work as a stylist gained attention of network cables MTV, E! and Access Hollywood. She has also been featured in In Style, People Weekly, Glamour, Vibe, Essence and the covers of Essence, Sister 2 Sister and Upscale Magazine.

Foster is credited as the founder of charity organization The Lost Ones Foundation, founded in 2009. The organization is a non-profit and serves as a motivational group for teenage girls. She also runs Kile's World, a non-profit centered on honoring the legacy of her son, Kile.

On August 18, 2014 Foster joined the cast of VH1 spin-off show Atlanta Exes. Foster stars in the VH-1 reality series Atlanta Exes which aired August 18, 2014 alongside Christina Johnson, Torrei Hart, Sheree Buchanan and Monyetta Shaw.

Personal life

She has five children, Darren (b. 1991), Ryan (b. 1999), Kile (2001–2012), Usher V (b. 2007), Naviyd Eli (b. 2008); two of whom are with Atlanta-based clothier Ryan Glover, whom she had been dating since 1998. They married in 2002 and separated and divorced on March 13, 2007

In 2006, Foster became involved romantically with singer Usher, who had hired her as a stylist. He proposed to her in January 2007 and announced their engagement in February. They married on August 3, 2007 in a private ceremony. Foster and Usher's first child, son Usher Raymond V, was born in November 2007. In December 2008, Foster gave birth to their second son, Naviyd Ely Raymond.

In February 2009, Foster suffered from cardiac arrest in a São Paulo, Brazil hospital. She had flown to Brazil to get liposuction and she was put in a medically induced coma to aid her recovery.

In June 2009, Usher filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences when claiming to have lived separately from Foster for nearly a year. Foster's family spoke against the claims, stating Usher had been living in their Atlanta home until March 2009. The divorce was finalized on November 4 of that same year.

On July 6, 2012, Foster's 11-year-old son Kile was critically injured after he and a teenage friend, riding on an inner tube on Lake Lanier near Atlanta, were hit by a Jet Ski operated by family friend Jeffrey S. Hubbard. Shortly afterward he was declared brain dead, and died July 21, 2012, of heart failure, after initial reports had said he was taken off life support.

On August 24, 2012, ex-husband Usher was awarded primary physical custody of their two sons, with the couple to share legal custody.

Just over a year later, on August 5, 2013, Usher's eldest son, Usher V, was hospitalized in the ICU after he became stuck in a drain while swimming in a pool at Usher's home. The next day, Foster filed a request for an emergency custody hearing in Fulton County Superior Court, seeking temporary primary custody and citing Usher V's "near-death accident" as evidence of a lack of supervision of the children. At the hearing on August 9, 2013, the case was dismissed and Usher retained primary custody of their two sons.