Ms. Tee

MS TEE

AUTHOR, SPEAKER, ADVOCATE

Tonia May Taylor was born and raised in Harlem in a two-parent household. Ms. Tee as her father affectionately began calling her at an early age became intrigued by Harlem’s fast life lifestyle. Her dad was a very disciplined Jamaican man and her mother was a sweet, not so disciplinarian from the south.

She was raised around good morals and work ethics. She was raised around celebrities like Kim Fields and Al Fann who put on shows in her old block on 133rd and 7th Avenue. 7th Avenue is where a lot of Harlem’s Street Legends like Nicky Barnes hung out. Places like Smalls Paradise and Mr. B’s were landmarks that you would see in the old movies like Super Fly and more modern movies like American Gangster.

Although she was raised to be respectful and to take education seriously, she yearned for that popular street life; a life that she kept hidden from her parents. She was able to keep that balance between staying in school and living that street life that she so desperately yearned for. That curiosity eventually led her to becoming a drug dealer as well as the love interest of some of the most influential and dangerous men in the game. Ms. Tee dealt with killers and drug dealers that rappers like Nas and Jadakiss have rapped about. Ms. Tee helped her uncles run successful drug operations in Harlem. At 16 she sold angel dust out of her Louis Vuitton purse on 123rd and 7th Avenue. Unbeknownst to her this is where drug legends and empires operated.

As she got older, Ms. Tee continued to involve herself with individuals that were very well known in the criminal world. That life led her into situations that almost ended her life. After being tied up at 6 months pregnant and shot on another occasion, she still didn’t get it until the death of her brother in June of 2000.

Ms. Tee eventually got her life on track on decided to give back. She worked with wayward youth living in group homes in New York and Atlanta. She returned to college and attained 2 degrees. After returning to New York in 2009 she ran a program that found housing for the mentally ill who were able to live independently. Later as a Senior Case Manager she oversaw a program that housed homeless Veterans. In that program Veterans were literally taken off the streets and were provided with housing, job skills and other wrap around services that assisted them with being productive in society. Ms. Tee Later was promoted as Director of housing for that same program.

Ms. Tee’s objective is to help those in a community where she was once complicit in destroying.

In her published memoir “HARLEM HEROIN(E )” you will be taken on a journey unlike no other. So far 1.9 MILLION people have viewed her documentary which premiered in 2019 YouTube, where she gives a riveting account of life on the streets of Harlem in the 80’s and 90’s era. She is undeniably become the Queen of storytelling.