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Teyana Taylor is opening up about how Beyoncé helped her throughout her career.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the R&B star reveals that there’s a piece of wisdom from the “Texas Hold ‘Em” artist that has stuck with her.
According to Taylor, 35, Beyoncé, 44, told her to “invest in yourself.”
“Don’t take it personal,” the One Battle After Another star adds of the 35-time Grammy winner’s guidance. “This is a business.”
Taylor recalled that because Queen Bey has known her since she was 15 years old, the “CHURCH GIRL” musician taught her some valuable lessons.
“I definitely came in the business at a time where I went into everything with my heart, and I didn’t understand certain things, and I would go to her and she’s just like, ‘Don’t take it personal.’ My mom would tell me the same thing,” she recalls.
Taylor says it’s advice she took with her for “the long haul because I didn’t know that certain things would be isolating where you would feel like, ‘Oh s—, in order for it to be done the way I see it in my head, I’m going to have to do this s— myself.”
According to the All’s Fair actress, Beyoncé made her understand that sometimes “the majority of your money [is] going toward everybody you had to pay to bring your vision to life.”
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“Every single check ain’t going to hit your pocket, and that’s only if you truly believe in yourself. Believing in yourself is investing in yourself — and she taught me that,” says Taylor.
Taylor also notably admired how “gracious and humble” Beyoncé was.
“That instilled in me if the Beyoncé is this way and she’s so grounded and she’s so this, this is the way I need to be,” she says.
Adds Taylor, “And [Beyoncé], being as humble as she is and as grounded as she is, definitely showed me everything that I needed to know…and I don’t take for granted.”
In October 2025, Taylor opened up about getting hired to choreograph Beyoncé 2006 “Ring the Alarm” video at age 15 in a clip of UNINTERRUPTED and Indeed’s The Main Thing series, which PEOPLE exclusively premiered.
“I got the call, and I, like, literally jumped up,” she recalled. “[I] had my skateboard with me, like, I went in and was like, ‘Hey Everybody!’ And she was like, ‘She’s a star.’”
According to Taylor, she and Beyoncé were “face to face, knees bumping” during the making of that music video.
Directed by Sophie Muller and inspired by Basic Instinct, the “Ring the Alarm” music video, was released in August 2006.
