Founder’s Story

The Founder's Story: Seven Years of “Joy”
Hello,
To some I am Tomisha Katelin Hamm, but to everyone I am Ms. Teaa! Every brand has a beginning, but mine was born from the pitch-black depths of a crisis designed to break my soul.
When I first envisioned The Beauteaque, I was entrenched in deep spiritual warfare. I was navigating a suffocating season where every circumstance seemed engineered to make me forget who I am. But I refused to submit to the darkness. I anchored myself in the truth that I am beautiful, chosen, and flawless—a conviction drawn straight from my brand’s foundational scripture:

Song of Solomon 4:7
"You are entirely beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you."
That verse wasn't just random words from a book. It was the absolute oxygen that kept me breathing when the air around me completely ran out.

The Breaking Point: Surviving the Unlivable
The Beauteaque was not built in a sleek corporate office. It was engineered on a bedbug-infested mattress inside a local Women & Children’s Homeless Shelter in Bakersfield, CA.
As a single mother trying to pick up the pieces after a targeted financial crisis claimed my car, my home, and my first business venture, I sought refuge at a local facility that promised a safe space to heal. Instead, my young daughter and I walked into a living nightmare.
As detailed in a formal lawsuit filed against the facility, the shelter was an ecosystem of discrimination, neglect, endangerment, and hazardous decay:
  • Severe Infestations: The rooms crawled with bedbugs, spiders, cockroaches, and mice, whose filth routinely contaminated our stored belongings.
  • Sanitation Failures: Black mold lined the shared showers, and live worms literally emerged from the drains while basic hygiene supplies were maliciously withheld.
  • Child Endangerment: Staff repeatedly left my young daughter unattended in severe distress, exposed her to extreme heat exceeding 100 degrees, and purposely triggered allergic reactions, causing her physical illness.
When I stood my ground, spoke out against the mistreatment, and demanded basic human dignity for my child and me, the retaliation was furious. The staff subjected me to hostile harassment, false write-ups, random unauthorized searches of my personal items, and targeted racial discrimination.
They wanted to break my belief system. They wanted to watch me fail while masquerading as my help. When you aren't insecure, a quiet, unshakeable demeanor intimidates small minds. When envious people realize they cannot break you, it incites a furious resentment.

The Root of the Storm: A Lifelong Battle
The psychological games and cruelty I faced from the shelter staff were completely undeserved, but they were certainly not unfamiliar. I had been trained for this storm my entire life.
Adopted at a young age by a family obsessed with presenting a pristine, pious "image" to the church and the public for praise, I was openly cast as the problem child. Yet behind closed doors, the very people entrusted to protect me decided to subject me to discrimination, alienation, humiliation, domestic abuse, and sexual abuse, using their polished reputations to hide their actions in the dark.
The moment the state funding stopped on my 18th birthday, they kicked me out of the house. They spun a clean-cut lie to the public that I had "run away" and had "always been a problem." I turned 18 on a Sunday and was out on the streets by that very Tuesday. I began trusting multiple strangers with my livelihood, leading to deep wounds, trauma, and various permanent scars.
When I questioned my adoptive mother that Sunday night, she simply said: “I’m gonna tell you what my mother told me. I don’t know what you’re gonna do and I don’t know where you’re gonna go, but I leave you in the hands of the Lord.”
What followed was a seven-year journey of severe instability. During those years, I leaned heavily into scripture:

James 1:2–3
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."
Repetitively during those seven years of “joy,” I forgave them and tried to rebuild a connection—only for those efforts to give me more reasons to be “joyful.” Envious people who masquerade as your help for public validation while hoping for your failure have always existed in my life. But they continuously underestimated the resilience of who they were dealing with.

Building My Escape Plan
When it became blindingly clear that the people running that shelter were placing bets on my failure, I knew I had to find a way out. I sat down on that infested shelter mattress, sought guidance from my Heavenly Father, and got to work.
Because I was living in a disgusting facility and completely unwilling to hold physical inventory for sanitary reasons, I engineered a highly precise, fully automated digital model. Through that process, I launched Bakersfield’s 1st Digital Department Store.
The staff never knew that in the middle of the storm they were orchestrating for my complete collapse, God was drafting my escape route. Months later, they wrongfully kicked me and my child out of the program and onto the streets in a petty attempt to break my “joyful” spirit and humble me by trying to force me to beg for reentry. That was when my digital business became our financial lifeline.
We survived their wrongful retaliation by living in hotels, our car, and in strangers' homes until I saved enough money to successfully move us into our own apartment. Through it all, we never missed a single meal or a single bill. Hallelujah!

Generational Renewal
After seven years of being forged in the hottest fire, I have single-handedly changed the trajectory of my bloodline with nobody’s help but God. Through a miracle of grace, God later blessed us to upgrade to a very beautiful, very spacious, brand-new, remodeled house.
The nightmare of instability is officially over for my family. I was able to smile through every single tear because in my soul I knew that the joy of the Lord will forever be my strength, and that He will never leave nor forsake me or my child.
What the enemy meant for my complete demise, God used for my ultimate good. I experienced firsthand the heavy stereotypes of homelessness and the chilling reality of people trading human dignity for a couple of paychecks and laughs.
Today, The Beauteaque stands as a living testament to resilience, a declaration of divine worth, and a mission of rescue. Through our partner initiative G.O.H.A.M.M., 10% of every single purchase you make is directly donated to support the homeless community. I don't just pledge a percentage; I also protect it. I personally oversee the dispersal of all funds to guarantee absolute transparency, fairness, and that donations go directly to supporting vulnerable families and nowhere else.
In a world where the hearts of many are cold and corrupt, make sure you keep yours beautiful and flawless.
To my Beautea Besties & Teammates, thank you for standing with a survivor, empowering a woman & child, and proving that true beauty isn’t just skin deep—it is a reflection of your soul & infinitely deeper than your appearance.