Tax lawyer goes full-time on creating bras for cancer patients
Carol Cain
Updated 5 min read
They say necessity is the mother of invention.
For Tamika Mayes, it was seeing her mother-in-law battle breast cancer and suffer from radiation treatment in 2011 that led the entrepreneurial-minded attorney to create a comfort bra to help alleviate her discomfort.
It spurred Mayes, working as a tax lawyer for General Motors at the time, to lean in on other skills she possessed to not only to come up with the specialty bra (with room for ice packs to soothe radiation burns) but other comfort products, too.
“During her treatments, she experienced radiation burns and needed to regularly sit and hold ice packs (or hydrogel sheets) to cool the burn,” she said. “Why should she have to deal with this on top of everything else, all because bras weren’t able to help her?
“It became my mission to use my strengths, experience and passion — advocacy, manufacturing and professional experience — so no other woman had that unnecessary frustration,” Mayes added.
Reyz (pronounced “Raise”), as Mayes hopes to create rays of hope and awareness about breast cancer, officially launched in 2021 with bras for sale at Eastern Market in Detroit and through pop-ups at shops around town.
Tamika Mayes at BasBlue's Zero to One culmination event in June 2023. Mayes, who launched Reyz, created a therapy bra after seeing her mother-in-law in unneccessary discomfort while being treated for breast cancer.
Mayes quit her GM job after 12 years to become a full-time entrepreneur in 2023.
“Reyz is (a) tech-enabled design solution company that creates fashionable bras for breast health and well-being,” Mayes said. “We sell direct to consumers through our website: www.givereyz.com (and on Amazon) and are focused on strategic partnerships to accelerate our R&D and distribution.“
She employs a team of eight and works with local suppliers and vendors to help design, develop and sell the patent-pending bra, made in the U.S.
At first blush, it might seem like a very niche product. My guess is Sara Blakely, founder of a company called Spanx, which offered a modern take on the old-fashioned girdle and panty hose more than 20 years ago, thought the same thing. Blakely, who was frustrated seeing panty lines under her clothing, took action. Spanx has grown into a billion-dollar company selling undergarments and clothing.
One in 8 American women is diagnosed with breast cancer at some point during her lifetime, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, which means Mayes' products have an audience.
Getting a boost
Mayes got a boost in 2023 from BasBlue, a nonprofit foundation geared to helping women, co-founded by Nancy Tellem in 2021. It launched a new six-month fellowship entrepreneur program called Zero-To-One to mentor and guide business owners from under-represented communities. Mayes was one of five people chosen that first year. BasBlue just selected its second class of 10 entrepreneurs.
The BasBlue house on Ferry Street in Detroit on October 13, 2021. When BasBlue opens near the end of October it will be a membership organization for women to join and support other women across the metro Detroit with an area to work, meet, get mentorship help along with career advice and guidance.
“What I am most grateful for gaining is the community (as a founder and entrepreneur rather than a corporate professional), preparation and practice,” Mayes said. “The monthly planning sessions provided dedicated time for learning, an inspiring and enjoyable physical space and opportunity to learn from other founders."
Tellem, a well-known entertainment and network executive, moved to Detroit in 2015 with her husband, Arn Tellem, vice chairman of the Detroit Pistons. She started BasBlue as the non-profit that settled into an old Victorian home as its headquarters near Wayne State University in Detroit. It offers memberships (it has 700 members) and offers a place to network and hold meetings and events.
BasBlue awards up to 100 trailblazer-in-residence memberships every year. Those are free of charge. Full-price memberships are $600 per year for those under 35 and $1200 per year for those over 35.
“In Michigan — where women own 43% of businesses — women of color start businesses at the same rate as their white counterparts, yet the early survival rate and average profitability are significantly less,” Nancy Tellem said. “It’s time for change and the Zero to One Entrepreneurial Fellowship aims to shift the numbers and flip the script.
“The goal is to help women and nonbinary emerging entrepreneurs looking to build, launch and scale a new business through business coaching, mentorship, funding and community,” Tellem said.
A second floor meeting room in BasBlue, a networking and cafe space in Detroit powered by women but welcoming to all.
BasBlue has some high-powered support from folks like Jennifer and Dan Gilbert (she is on the organization’s board), as well as donations from Rocket Cos. and the Gilbert Family Foundation.
The Ballmer Group (Steve Ballmer of Microsoft fame who grew up in metro Detroit and his wife, Connie Ballmer) made a $1 million donation to BasBlue in 2023 to develop a pilot program to expose teenage girls to alternative paths of success in adulthood through engagement in an entrepreneurial culture that fosters personal development and economic growth.
BasBlue’s imprint is growing as a gathering place for entrepreneurs.
Ping Ho met Tellem in Detroit after Ho had moved here to begin her entrepreneurial journey in 2015.
Ironically, Ho and Tellem share a background in digital media and entertainment: “I was with Warner Music Group based in New York City and worked with a technology company in the digital music space,” said Ho. “It turned out that Nancy is their executive chairman and chief media officer. We discovered that shared background and connection after I moved to Detroit and I met Nancy through a networking event.“
Ping Ho
Ho — CEO and founder of Backbone Hospitality, a female-led group of brands and companies in the food and beverage businesses across Detroit: Marrow, Marrow Detroit Provisions, The Royce and Mink — helped with the BasBlue Café inside its Detroit headquarters She also is on BasBlue’s board.
“Women and minorities are groups that traditionally haven't had as much access to funding, networking and other resources, such as professional training and mentorship,” Ho said. “Such disparities come from systemic and institutional prejudices that we must actively counter and seek to change over time.“
Another success story
From left: Ping Ho, Nancy Tellem and Tamika Mayes.
Mayes' success is a testament to her hard work, ingenuity and guidance provided by folks involved with BasBlue.
Mayes said she just signed a contract with a major company and her specialty bra will be sold in retail (she can’t announce details yet but is hoping to do so later this year).
Contact Carol Cain: 248-355-7126 or clcain@cbs.com. She is senior producer/host of “Michigan Matters,” which airs 5:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS Detroit and noon Sundays on Detroit 50 WKBD. See Oakland University President Ora Pescovitz, Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett and Bill Wild on this Sunday’s show. Michigan Matters can also be found on those stations’ listings on FUBO, Pluto TV, Youtube.com. It is streamed 9 p.m. weeknights on CBSdetroit.com and the CBSdetroit app.
