Toriah Lachell has spent nearly a decade being introduced to strangers as Jayson Tatum’s ex, a framing that has never quite captured who she actually is.
She and the Boston Celtics star dated as teenagers in the St. Louis area, had a son together during Tatum’s rookie NBA season, and separated shortly after, but the two were never married, and Lachell’s own story since then has been built almost entirely away from basketball.
She is a licensed, multi-certified cosmetologist and the founder of The Curl Bar Boston, a salon specializing in natural and curly hair care, and she has raised her son largely out of the public eye while building a business that now requires appointments months in advance.
Toriah Lachell Biography
She was born in February 2000 in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised there by her mother, Julie Gibbs, and her stepfather, John Gibbs.
Toriah Lachell attended McCluer North High School in Florissant, Missouri, and was active in sports during her teenage years, while Tatum attended Chaminade College Preparatory School across town in St. Louis, both part of the same broader St. Louis area social scene where the two first met and began dating.
She became a mother at 17, giving birth to her and Tatum’s son during his first NBA season.
On her salon’s own About page, she has described her path into hair care as personal, saying her love for hair started with learning to accept, embrace, and love her own natural texture after years of relaxing it as a young girl.
That process of learning to manage her own curls eventually led her into cosmetology school.
Career
Toriah Lachell, who also goes by the professional name Toriah Mimms on her salon’s own site, built her business specifically around natural and curly hair textures.
Beyond her general cosmetology license, she holds several specialized curl certifications, including DevaCurl certification, Rezo Cut certification, and status as a Cut It Kinky alumna, credentials that reflect ongoing formal training.
Speaking on a 2021 episode of The Glow Up Effect podcast, she described falling into the career somewhat by accident, building her confidence as a stylist gradually and continuing to refine her technique, while also addressing common myths about what actually damages curly hair and how the rise of hair influencers has changed the landscape for curly-haired clients trying to find reliable advice.
She founded The Curl Bar Boston in 2021, offering cutting, styling, and curl education services built around helping clients maintain their hair long after they leave the chair rather than just providing a single appointment.
The salon has grown into a Boston destination for textured hair clients, with reporting describing appointments booked out months in advance.
She expanded her business model beyond in-person services by launching the Curl Bar Curl Course, an online program teaching clients how to care for their curls at home, and has continued building out educational content and workshops as a second line of business alongside her salon chair work.
She has said her long-term goals include further expanding the salon, adding more online curl education courses, and eventually launching her own hair care product line.
Jayson Tatum Ex-Wife
Lachell and Tatum dated as teenagers in the St. Louis area before he left for Duke University and, in 2017, was selected third overall in the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics.
Their son, Jayson Christopher Tatum Jr., known as Deuce, was born December 6, 2017, roughly two months into Tatum’s rookie NBA season, making Tatum a father at 19 and Lachell a mother at 17.
The couple separated not long after Deuce’s birth and have never been married, despite the ex-wife label that continues to circulate in headlines about her.
Since the split, the two have maintained a co-parenting arrangement that both sides and outside reporting consistently describe as amicable, sharing joint custody with a schedule built around Deuce’s schooling and Tatum’s NBA travel demands.
Lachell has said she moved to the Boston area specifically so Deuce could stay close to his father during the long NBA season, a decision that has kept their son a regular, well-known presence at Celtics games over the years.
Former Celtics guard Marcus Smart once described the team’s affection for Deuce directly, saying everyone was attentive to whatever Deuce wanted, a line that captured just how much the young boy had become part of the team’s own culture around the practice facility and locker room.
By all available accounts, Lachell has not publicly dated anyone since the split, keeping her focus on her son and her business.
Toriah Lachell’s Net Worth
Toriah Lachell’s net worth is estimated at $500,000. Her primary revenue stream is service income from The Curl Bar Boston, a salon reported to book appointments months in advance, which alone suggests a healthy and consistent client base.
On top of that, she has built at least two additional income streams beyond the salon chair itself: her Curl Bar Curl Course, an online educational product sold directly to consumers, and periodic educational workshops separate from her regular salon services.
She has also spoken about plans to launch her own hair care product line, which would add a third, retail-based revenue stream if it materializes.
