By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
For Jevon Tatum, being an entrepreneur is practically in his blood. As the founder of Essence Body Products, a sustainable wellness brand that uses natural ingredients to create eco-friendly products, his experience with wellness products started with his family’s business.
“A couple of years ago, my family used to have a kiosk in the [DeKalb Mall in Atlanta] that sold different oils and stuff. My dad used to sell shea butters,” said Tatum.” Once I got to [Talladega College] I wanted to start a business. I ultimately took it on and put my own twist on it. I started making the products like shea butters and selling it at school then everything kind of slowly evolved.”
While taking over the family business Tatum said the brand has evolved to include long-term goals of expanding into community farming and AI-driven gardening services.
Essence Body Products first launched in 2021 on the campus of Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in Huntsville. Before Tatum attended Talladega, he was a student and basketball player on scholarship at A&M.
“I was an athlete at the time, so I was playing basketball and then, I ultimately transferred to Talladega for another basketball scholarship opportunity,” said Tatum.
The 24-year-old said a change in his lifestyle also contributed to “the spark” that ignited his drive to create Essence Body Products.
“I am a vegan, so on that played a part. I turned vegan my sophomore year of Tucker high school in [DeKalb County],” Tatum said. “Trying to find natural alternatives as well as different food options, skin care product options for me to use. I have sensitive skin. That was a spark as well.”
Move To The Magic City
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Tatum said he moved to Birmingham four months ago after he was accepted into the ECMC Group Education Impact Fund Bold Path Fellows, a program that provides capital and support to graduates of Birmingham post-secondary institutions.
“For me being an outsider coming into Birmingham, with the time I’ve been here and the young entrepreneurs I’ve been able to connect with, the city really does have something brewing. It’s something special, as far as the entrepreneurship and innovative theme,” said Tatum.
Although he is new to the Magic City, he’s familiar with Alabama.
At Talladega College, which he attended from 2021-2025, he served as the Student Government Association president and played basketball. He completed his degree in business management and marketing in May.
Tatum said he grew up playing basketball since age 4 and “that was my opening to everything, that was my first love I played with a lot of pros. I was able to have a great experience with it. It prepared me for the business side of everything.
“The discipline that goes into sports made my transition to business very easy,” he said. “I don’t think if I didn’t play sports or didn’t play basketball I wouldn’t be able to have the mindset the drive to make this business happen.”
If Tatum loves anything as much as business it’s basketball. He played point guard and shooting guard his freshman year at Alabama A&M and even played AAU hoops with Atlanta Xpress with future NBA Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.
As an athlete naturally gravitated towards healthier food options. It wasn’t until he watched the Netflix documentary, What the Health?, that he switched made the switch to veganism.
He acknowledged that the documentary led to his conversion. “Being able to see what was needed for our body, it just made sense to me,” he said.
The wellness brand recently launched a gardening program at Tabernacle Baptist Church in the Smithfield Community, “one of the first places we will spearhead our movement of the urban garden,” Tatum said.
“Inno Under 25”
Tatum is one of four Alabama ECMC Group Education Impact Fund Bold Path Fellows.
“They (Bold Path Fellowship) gave me an opportunity to focus on my vision,” Tatum said. “We just added the urban farming component where we will be actually growing gardens and utilizing what we grow for our products and go into the community and provide fresh produce as well as these different health and wellness products to underserved communities.”
Tatum was recently honored as “Inno Under 25″ by the Birmingham Business Journal.
“It was shocking to me. When they reached out I had been here for not to long. I was honored just to see that they recognized the work that I was doing. … it was just an honor to see some of the work be recognized and be able to make a list with some of the great young entrepreneurs on that list.
Asked his favorite part about being a business owner in Birmingham, Tatum said,” the freedom to express myself. I know my business is trying to solve a problem within the different communities that I serve, but it’s still coming from me. Being able to create something that comes from you is still like a work of art.”
For more on the products visit essencebodyproducts.com
