Tanaya Henry: On success, feeling sexy and those provocative designs

A little over five years ago Tanaya Henry was literally giving everyone who saw her fever as a dancer/model in New York. The hot 26 year old used to dance into the wee hours in the most provocative outfits creatively styled and accessorized by herself.  Then one day she decided she wanted an earring that connected one ear to the other with a chain. “I went to the little chain store bought supplies and made it myself,” she says.  “And after I wore it a few times at work, the other girls that worked there bought it off me. Then one of the bartenders bought one and Alicia Keys’ stylist saw it and was like ‘let me pull that for Alicia, we have a cover shoot tomorrow,’ so I got them to him and then they were on the cover of Giant magazine and I was like ok lets do this. It was the first piece I ever made.”

Since then a slew of celebs have approached Henry for jewelry for their clients and her work has been seen on Cassie, Kendall and Kylie Jenner,  Zendaya, R. Kelly, Nicki Minaj and queen Bey herself, Beyonce.

Henry says that the path of being a jeweler wasn’t her lifelong dream, it kind of just happened. But her sex appeal and dressing to kill is what drives her to keep designing. Just take one look at her instagram @tanayahenry (with over 91K followers) and you will see what I mean.

It all starts with that amazing body. “A lot of the stuff with chains I will just make on myself,” she says. “I will literally stand in front of the mirror and make it on myself and if it goes with what I’m wearing and it goes with my aesthetic I’ll make it. It’s like, if I can wear it and feel sexy in it then I’m like ‘ok this is one of the pieces.’ It just happens naturally.”

Just like that smokin dancers bod that she sports in her look book.  Which by the way, she was blessed with from birth and maintains by eating well. “I try to eat healthy,” says the dancer turned designer. “I don’t like a lot of sugar, candy, chips and craziness. I mean, I love it but I try not to eat it cause it makes me feel gross. Ever since I started to eat organic and clean I have noticed the difference in my body.”

Unlike most of us though, she doesn’t have to exercise much… nor does she care too. “My metabolism has always been super high and I was a dancer and competitive cheerleader for like probably ten years of my life so my body has kind of just stayed in the same shape and my mom is really fit as well, so it poured over to me but I honestly don’t work out all that much. When I work out I get super ripped and my muscles stick out and I don’t want to look like that. It’s cool but its too much for me.”

So why on earth is a gal this talented and this hot single? “I feel like right now I need to find happiness within myself,” she says.  “I’ve tried with a few different people. But if you re not happy with what you are doing in your life it’s hard to be happy for yourself. I definitely make sure I stay around people who I genuinely get along and laugh with. I need laughter in my life. Then I stay creative. I like to make things apart from jewelry. I’ve dabbled in making music, I dance, the more you explore those avenues the more you can figure out what you’re supposed to do and it keeps you happy.”

Oh and in case you were also scrolling the internet and came across pics of Henry with Trey Songz, she makes it clear that the two are very good friends, but thats it. “He’s one of my closest friends,” she says. “I have known him for like seven or eight years and even in the beginning we were never boyfriend and girlfiriend and we never dated. It really bothered me that there were all these rumors all over the place. They weren’t even true so I was like ok and I tried to get everything off google and it was not working, and so I was like let me just ignore this. Then it came up again cause we went out to the GQ party and obviously I knew something like that was going to happen walking a red carpet together. But this time around I was a little more comfortable with it because I knew myself that I wasn’t dating him and we were just friends and I had something to show, I had my website and my jewelry. It brought attention to me but I had something to back it up. I wasn’t just someone’s girl or whatever they wanted to call me. But he’s been great. He’s definitely helped me with my business a lot. He’s given me a lot of advice, introduced me to a ton of people and done a lot of things to move me forward.”

Speaking of, there was that time that Beyonce was wearing her jewelry.

“I love the lace cuff,” says Henry, of the style Beyonce sported recently. “I found the tassle somewhere and I already had the lace cuff and I was like what if I could do something to the lace cuff to make it a new version then I was like hey, let me add a tassle and it worked!”

The creativity doesn’t stop for Henry. “I have a very high end line coming out next year but in February my next collection will hit my website,” the designer says.

We can’t wait to see it and will hold our breath for the hot instagram pics of the designer modeling her new collection.