If you know Beyoncé, chances are, you know Tina Knowles, too.
Commanding a striking presence at the 2025 Grammys and on countless red carpets, Knowles is the mother of pop superstar Beyoncé and her sister, the singer Solange.
She is also mother-in-law to the world’s richest musician, rapper Jay-Z (Shawn Carter), and grandmother of their three (already) famous kids: Blue Ivy, Sir, and Rumi Carter.
But Ms. Tina, as she’s called, shines bright in her own right, as a successful entrepreneur, fashion designer, and businesswoman who built an empire with her popular Houston salon, Headliners, that helped fund Beyoncé’s early music career — first with Girl’s Tyme, and later, Destiny’s Child.
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A Black woman who came of age in the American South during the turbulent 1960s and 70s, Knowles triumphed over violence, discrimination, and harassment, making her story an important piece of the fabric of modern America — one set to the soundtrack of the era’s greatest Black entertainers, from Smokey Robinson to Diana Ross, Sade, and Janet Jackson.
But it’s her tale of female empowerment — particularly with her daughters — that makes Knowles stand apart, and she provides rich detail into her family saga in her buzzworthy new memoir, “Matriarch” (One World, 2025). Published on April 22, 2025, it was instantly named an Oprah’s Book Club pick, an honor that comes with huge financial implications, since Oprah’s Book Club has more than two million readers.
So, just what is Knowles’ net worth now, and how much richer could Oprah make her?
What is Tina Knowles’ net worth in 2025?
As of mid-2025, most sources estimate Tina Knowles’ wealth at around $25 million.
Her fortune comes mainly from earnings from her multiple businesses in the hair and fashion industries, as well as a slew of side hustles: After all, being matriarch to pop music royalty isn’t a job; it’s a vocation.
How did Tina Knowles get rich?
Here’s a closer look at some of the ways Beyoncé’s mom built her fortune.
Headliners
In 1986, Knowles opened Headliners, a 12-seat hair salon on Montrose Boulevard in Houston; in the 1990s, it moved into an expanded location near Rice University.
The salon provided Black women with top-notch service in a fraction of the time it would normally take to get their hair done, so that they could continue to blaze trails in their professional careers. Word of mouth spread quickly.
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During a time when there were few female entrepreneurs, Knowles’ involvement in community-building initiatives further raised Headliners’ profile, and the salon became one of the city’s best-known businesses.
Headliners would also serve as a proving ground for Girl’s Tyme and, later, Destiny’s Child, who often performed in front of customers, which, as Knowles admitted, were a “tough audience.” They offered the girlsboth praise as well as suggestions for improvement.
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In 1986 alone, Knowles said Headliners had grossed $500,000, which amounts to $1.45 million in today’s dollars when adjusted for inflation. The business was successful enough for Knowles to become the family’s breadwinner when Knowles’ husband, Mathew, quit his job at the Xerox Corporation to become Girl’s Tyme’s full-time manager.
House of Deréon and Miss Tina by Tina Knowles
Not only did Knowles do hair; she also took an interest in fashion and learned to sew from her mother, Agnes Deréon, a seamstress in Galveston, Texas.
When Beyoncé and Solange were young, Knowles would shop in thrift stores and dress them up in her custom creations; she also designed her daughter’s band’s performance costumes in the early days of Destiny’s Child — a move that helped them get noticed.
Rapper Wyclef Jean, for instance, admired their unique and stylish look, suggesting Knowles become their full-time stylist; she went on to create some of the group’s most memorable outfits, while Jean himself produced their biggest hit, “No, No, No Part 2.”
In 2004, Knowles and Beyoncé founded House of Deréon, a ready-to-wear fashion line named in tribute to Knowles’ mother that featured denim pieces with the family’s signature embellishments.
A spinoff line aimed at juniors, Dereon, was introduced in 2006, although both were shuttered by 2012. Miss Tina by Tina Knowles, an inclusive fashion line, launched in 2007 and is still available today at Walmart and on the Home Shopping Network.
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Cécred
Beyoncé’s latest passion project, a line of haircare products for textured hair, was launched in 2024; Knowles is the company’s vice president. Ever the savvy businesspeople, they have taken advantage of a relatively untapped market, as Black consumers make up 11.1% of total spending in the beauty industry while Black-owned brands represent only 2.5% of sales.
Cécred’s product line, which includes shampoos, conditioners, masks, and treatments, takes inspiration from the natural concoctions Knowles’ mother passed down to her, along with recipes Knowles used with her clients at Headliners.
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The company amassed two million customers in its first six months alone. In April 2025, Cécred was launched in more than 1,400 Ulta Beauty stores nationwide, increasing its exposure further still.
Other business ventures
As her daughter’s fame grew, Knowles became a celebrity in her own right: First by designing the costumes for Destiny’s Child, and later as a stylist for films like “The Pink Panther” (2006).
A style star herself, Knowles has also made cameos on TV shows like “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and was featured in Beyoncé’s music videos “All Night” and “Black Is King” (2020), the companion to the 2024 film “Mufasa: The Lion King.”
“Matriarch” isn’t the first book Knowles wrote, either. She co-authored “Destiny’s Style: Bootylicious Fashion, Beauty, and Lifestyle Secrets from Destiny’s Child” with Zoe Alexander in 2002.
Knowles and her “daughters” Angela Beyince, Beyoncé, and Kelly Rowland, with Glamour editor-in-chief Samantha Barry at the Glamour 2024 Women of the Year Award in New York City.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Glamour/Getty Images
How many kids does Tina Knowles have?
Tina and Mathew Knowles had two children together: Beyoncé, who was born on September 4, 1981, and Solange, who was born on June 24, 1986.
However, Knowles considers herself a matriarch to more people than that.
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In her memoir, she described how her multi-generational family lived doors apart from each other in Galveston, Texas and Weeks Island, Louisiana. For instance, Knowles was the youngest of seven siblings and was especially close to her nephew, Johnny.
But even people not related through blood were considered family. Her mother, Agnes, had two other children with her first husband, Mervin “Slack” Marsh, before she divorced him and married Knowles’ father, Lumis Beyincé.
Knowles recounted how her father had treated his stepchildren as if they were his own, saying, “it would be a lesson I would return to again and again in my own life, mothering children born to other mothers. It’s not taking someone’s place, it’s sharing that love, and all the burdens and joys that come with it.”
That being said, the family tree in “Matriarch” depicts Knowles’ lineage as not only including Beyonce and Solange but also two other women she considers to be daughters: Singer Kelly Rowland, who began living with her family at age 11, and her niece, songwriter Angie Beyincé, who has a credit on several of Beyoncé’s albums.
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Tina Knowles’ early life
Celestine “Tina” Ann Beyoncé was born on January 4, 1954, in Galveston, Texas. Her family name was Beyincé; however, she and her brother, Skip, had both received birth certificates with their names misspelled. When Agnes, her mother, tried to correct them, she was told by people in the hospital to “be happy that they’re even getting a birth certificate” since Black people in the segregated South routinely didn’t.
In her memoir, Knowles recounted how she chose to give her firstborn daughter her surname because she wanted to keep the Beyoncé family history alive, saying it was “the most valuable possession” she had.
Knowles identifies as black; she has a mix of African, French, and Native American ancestry. Her heritage is Creole, with her family roots in Louisiana. Her grandfather, a white plantation owner named Eugène Gustave Deréon, had a white wife as well as several enslaved black mistresses, including Odelia, Knowles’ grandmother.
After his death, Eugène’s will granted Odelia her freedom along with a small plot of land, which was almost unheard-of in the Civil War-era South.
Racism was threaded through Knowles’ adolescence: Her brothers were beaten and regularly harassed by Galveston police, while she and her seven siblings attended a Catholic school that punished students with physical and emotional abuse.
Related: Oprah’s net worth in 2025: How the “Queen of Media” got so rich
Knowles transcended her difficult upbringing by focusing on what she loved most: Music, dance, and clothing — she even formed her own girl group in high school, modelled after the Supremes, called the Veltones. Knowles also became involved in the Civil Rights movement and participated in sit-ins, even though her mother forbade her to. When her high school was finally integrated in the early 1970s, she also became active with Black Power.
Upon graduation, Knowles began a new life for herself in California by living with her cousin in San Diego and Los Angeles. She took a job selling Shiseido makeup, which wanted to capitalize on her “exotic” look and expand sales to Black customers. Knowles later returned to Texas to care for her aging parents, and in the process, met her future husband.
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Tina Knowles’ personal life
In 1978, Tina met Mathew Knowles at a friend’s party; he dated light-skinned Black women and was impressed by her taste in music.
Knowles, in turn, appreciated Mathew’s drive and entrepreneurial spirit. They began their relationship right around the time he started his career with the Xerox Corporation, first selling copiers as an intern and then quickly rising through the ranks in sales. They married in 1979 and moved to Houston, where they raised their two daughters in the affluent, historically black MacGregor Way neighborhood.
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However, as Knowles discusses in her memoir, Mathew had issues with fidelity, conducting several extramarital affairs, and so she decided to start her hair salon as a way to support herself and her girls so that they could leave him.
However, through counseling, they were able to stay together until 2011, when they finally divorced.
Knowles with second husband, Richard Lawson, in 2019.
Paras Griffin/Stringer/Getty Images
In 2013, Knowles began dating actor Richard Lawson, whom she had been friends with for decades. They were married in 2015, although Knowles filed for divorce in July 2023, citing irreconcilable differences.
Knowles was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in July 2024. She underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and during her book launch in April 2025, Knowles said that she was “doing great” and cancer-free. She told People Magazine she was “incredibly blessed that God allowed me to find it early.”
Through diet and exercise, Knowles is estimated to have lost more than 50 lbs.
How does Oprah’s Book Club help authors?
“Matriarch” is expected to quickly reach bestseller status, thanks to its selection as part of Oprah’s Book Club — it has generated $80 million in book sales over its 29-year run and made dozens of authors household names and multi-millionaires in the process.
Launched in 1996, Winfrey’s recommendations include titles like “Becoming” by Michelle Obama, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed, and “The Sweetness of Water” by Nathan Harris. In recent years, Winfrey has made a conscious effort to champion Black voices and stories.
Oprah’s Book Club is “the most powerful and influential force in American publishing,” according to Lit Hub, which reports that once Oprah endorses a book, it averages 500,000 additional copies sold.
Considering the fact that “Matriarch” is priced at $35, and that the average book royalty an author receives is 10%, Knowles could pocket an additional $1.75 million from Oprah alone.
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