Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Taiya Morrison-Brown. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Taiya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
In 2021, I took the biggest risk I’ve ever taken in life. I moved cross country from a small town in Arizona called Maricopa back to my hometown of Detroit to fully pursue everything I am passionate about. The riskiest part of that being I had nowhere to go and no friends out here. There was a point when I lived out of my car on the Eastside of Detroit while trying to build and sustain my first business baby- Savy Homes, a housekeeping company. A few months later I had found a safe place to stay and started expanding my horizons. First being that I am a music artist myself that manages other artist and creatives-which is still a growing endeavor. I tired modeling, the first runway I ever walked was in 2022 for Kiss My Kurves produced by The Fashion Statement and after a few more shows, I discovered I’d rather be on the other side of the camera. Although it was a huge risk, I bet on myself and I do not regret a single thing I had to go through to get to this point.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Clever Bee Inc. is a dream I’ve had for awhile! Music has been a passion of mine since birth and I’m grateful throughout the years I’ve had opportunities to try the different avenues it creates be that dance, singing, writing, and learning the instruments. However, originally Clever Bee Inc. was intended to be a journalistic magazine, this derived from an interest in journalism in high school. My sophomore year I applied to join the Journalism class to expand and polish my writing skills. I carried that with me throughout my high school days even though I transferred schools the next year- this didn’t kill my passion for writing in general. That lead me to get into creative writing and ultimately brought be back to writing music which I had been doing on and off since the 6th grade when I thought I was gonna be the next Nicki Minaj, my how I have grown. The name Clever Bee comes from another lifetime when I worked at a call center and quickly became a peer that others could come to for help or transfer difficult calls to. There was an older gentleman on my team who would call me “clever Bee” because he thought I was clever. At the time I just enjoyed the compliment, a few months after leaving that call center I decided I should get back to my journalism roots on the side. I started by setting up an interview platform to help one of my older brothers who was starting a non-profit at the time and I wanted to help share his why. And that’s where it stayed from 2018 until after getting back into creating music here in Michigan and decided I wanted to help other artists as well. So then Clever Bee shifted from being a journalism platform to managing 1 other artist outside from myself to then later be combined with my new found passion for photography after walking the runway. Which brings us to the current day where Clever Bee Inc. now acts as all 3, photography, artist management, and now a podcast “Real Bosses of Detroit” where I sit down and interview majority Black owned businesses and brands that are right here in Detroit. I am grateful to now be filming season 2 and taking ad placement to continue to grow. I believe what truly sets me apart is the fact that everything I do is with the intention to pour back into my city. I believe Detroit is a beautiful city full of so much talent and community. With a little extra love and care we could easily be a truly prosperous fashion and entertainment mecca of the world. I believe in my city so tough that I came back here to plant my roots and give back to the community. I am most proud of the integrity and authenticness that my work brings. While photography is a creative art form- I refuse to make you look like what you are not, I intend to capture beautiful raw moments of my subjects. That comes with being able to make people smile, laugh, and feel confident on the other side of my lense. As I continue to expand Detroit businesses, artist, LGBTQIA+ artists and business owners will always be my main focus.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a photographer is the tears of joy that comes from your client because you were able to capture them in a light that they didn’t see themselves in or capture heartfelt moment at events. It was mind boggling the first 2 times it happened but now its what I strive for in every shoot. As cliche as it sounds every human is beautiful in their own way and sometimes we need a reminder of that.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When I was first starting out in photography all I had was my phone so that’s what I used to take pictures. I think that I got overlooked a lot because of that and the fact that I could only do location shoots because I didn’t have a studio. That didn’t stop me from perfecting my craft. I offered free photo shoots for 1 whole year to any and everyone I could find. It came with a ton of no’s because I lacked a professional camera or they thought someone else could do a better job. I refused to quit and to let that bother me to the point where now you cant tell if I used a professional camera or not and you aren’t even concerned about that because you are satisfied with the results. The same goes for my music, my first 3 songs I recorded straight from my phone and to this day I still record and produce from the comfort of my own home. The moral of the story is, just start wherever you are and don’t stop because there will come growth and opportunity on the other side of not giving up.
Contact Info:
- Website: CleverBeeinc.com
- Instagram: @cleverbee.inc
- Facebook: Clever Bee Inc.
- Youtube: Clever Bee Inc.
- Other: TikTok: @cleverbeeinc Patreon: CleverBeeInc
Image Credits
Joshua Smith, Wey Pro Productions