We recently connected with Ketonya Bankston and have shared our conversation below.

Ketonya, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I started modeling mainstream during my college years. After I graduated from Northern Arizona University (NAU), I signed with my first agency and truly began my career as a Professional Model. I noticed sometimes while on set, most makeup artists during that time didn’t know how to work well with my skin tone. My makeup for commercials and magazines was often times too light, too dark or below basic standards for the beauty industry. I noticed that the other models on set who did not have my skin tone looked beautiful and their makeup was near perfection. It was at this point that I took it upon myself to get professionally trained as a professional makeup artist. In 2006, I flew to L.A. where I had the pleasure of being trained by Celebrity MUA Sam Fine. I didn’t realize that it was not only an investment in myself, but for my future business.

After I got professionally trained in the artistry of makeup, I started doing my own makeup on set. Other models and talent who looked like me on set took notice of my artistic skills and they began to ask me to do their makeup as well. I also started to help one of my brothers, Shimeon Mattox. He models as well, but he’s also a Creative Director and worked with various media forums. I did the makeup for his models on set. His twin, Shimon Mattox was the hairstylist.

People took notice of our talents, beyond our looks. We became known as the dynamic sibling trio! In 2011 I founded what is known as Style Stalkers, LLC. Shimeon is our Fashion Stylist, Shimon is our licensed Hair Stylist and I’m the Professional Makeup Artist. Style Stalkers is an image consulting entity that offers an array of fashion services such as: hair, makeup, styling, closet make-overs, private modeling instruction, private makeup lessons and more.

Style Stalkers’ goal is to inspire and help bring out the best style in you!

Ketonya, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Spiritual, courageous, giving, upbeat, beautiful, artistic and dedicated; this is Ketonya Bankston! Ketonya comes from humble beginnings growing up in the small historic town of Winslow, Arizona. She has (2)
older sisters and (3) younger brothers. With a mother that passed away at the tender age of 34-years old,
Ketonya and her siblings were raised by a strong, passionate man of God; their father Glenn Mattox.
Before their mother Sandra Mattox passed away, she instilled in her children to always be independent
and to NEVER depend on anyone; a staple Ketonya has lived by for many years.

Early on in Ketonya’s life, she attained a strong desire to one day become a well-known force and
contender within the fashion industry. Ketonya attended Northern Arizona University on an academic
scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fashion Merchandising with a Minor in
Advertising. To-date, Ketonya has become a very successful professional model with experience on the
local and international levels; having appeared in national campaigns for PetsMart, Executive Realty,
Massage Envy and ATA Airlines just to name a few. She was also the first African American to have a
(5)-page spread in Oro Valley Magazine, she’s appeared on the pages of Essence Magazine and has a
running national campaigns with Sprint and AT&T.

In 2011 Ketonya along with (2) of her younger brothers Shimeon and Shimon Mattox (whom are twins)
founded and created what is known as Style Stalkers, LLC. Style Stalkers, LLC is a delicious monthly
fashion blog that offers an array of fashion services from head-to-toe make overs, fashion styling, closet
make overs, one-on-one model/runway instruction, one-on-one makeup instruction, poise & confidence
classes, weddings and fashion show production. The goal of Style Stalkers, LLC is to show that beauty
comes in all different sizes, shapes and colors. However, true beauty resonates from within. Style
Stalkers, LLC was created to help bring out the best style in you!

Ketonya is happily married to NFL Alumni Michael Bankston Sr. Together, from previous unions,
Ketonya and Michael have three incredibly bright and intelligent daughters and one excelling and talented
son. They have one grandson and twin grandsons on the way (February 2024). Ketonya maintains great balance in her life by keeping God first and allowing everything else to fall into place.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

In 2015, Style Stalkers hosted our 1st major celebrity fashion show during Super Bowl. All eyes where on Style Stalkers, because this was the first year that the NFL had the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl in the same city. We figured since no other major events were happening the weekend after Pro Bowl and the weekend before the Super Bowl, it would be the perfect time to host an event. We partnered with Future for Kids; a non-profit that helps under privileged kids.

A tremendous amount of prayer, time, effort, energy and money went into planning this event. Not to mention the amount of stress in hosting such a large scale event. Failure wasn’t an option, because it could be detrimental to our business and very costly. With emotions running high, money low and time running out, we had to make the decision to run the event live and to really put ourselves out there. I had a pep talk from one of my older sister’s Kammema Renfro who reminded me of my faith and to believe in what I pray for. That same day we made the decision to run the event live and send out the Press Release. Within a matter of days, we had a title sponsor (Right Toyota of Scottsdale), countless other major sponsors and sports agents contacting Style Stalkers to see how they could get their professional athletes involved with our show.

One of the greatest lessens I learned from this celebrity fashion show was to BELIEVE IN WHAT I PRAY FOR….FAITH!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

It’s important as a small business owner to keep a clean slate and to keep yourself out there; in other words remain relevant. As a Professional Model, my client’s see me in magazines, billboards and commercials so they expect me to know what makeup looks are in and what looks will work best for them.

Beyond knowing your craft, how you treat people is one of the most important things in business. It can make or break your business. We treat everyone with the same respect we expect to receive in return. We treat people how we want to be treated; regardless of the response.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stylestalkersblog.com
• Instagram: @stylestalkersaz
• Facebook: Style Stalkers LLC
• Linkedin: Ketonya Bankston
• Twitter: Ketonya Bankston
• Youtube: Ketonya Bankston
• Yelp: Style Stalkers LLC

Image Credits
Cristos Sewell-professional photos ONLY Sydney Griffith main photo holding makeup brushes