Kerry Ann Thompson (left) poses with a model wearing one of her Avah Taylor Tees. - leighton levy photo

Kerry-Ann Thompson wants to be known for more than being the ex-girlfriend of dancehall star Mavado. After all she is a businesswoman, who owns a growing line of tee shirts called Avah Taylor Tees.

The 23-year-old Jamaican, who has made Canada her home for the last 14 years, was born and raised in Buff Bay, Portland. After she migrated, she went on to study office administration and patient administration at different colleges, but she always harboured dreams of having her own line of tee shirts, which she expects to grow into a full-scale fashion line, her own standing store and eventually, her very own boutique. "I've always loved fashion," she said. "From I was about 15 or 16, I've always said I wanted to start my own clothing line until two years ago I decided to do it."

That was when she launched Avah Taylor Tees, a business she named after a good friend, Ava, who she said, inspired her through good times and bad as well as after international film star Elizabeth Taylor.

Avah Taylor, Kerry Ann says, represents class and independence, "for people creating their own niche in life." The shirts bear a mixture of slogans and urban slang that while popular, are not too trendy. "Trends don't last," she argues. "So we use slogans like 'bad mind a kill dem', which never gets old."

Good response

Response to the line has been good in Canada and she is hoping to make a breakthrough in the Jamaican market before long.

But long before Avah Taylor Tees became reality, Thompson had already bought about a dozen tee shirts with her plans firmly in motion. It was after she bought those shirts that she first met Mavado in December 2006.

The chemistry between them was instant, she said. She had flown into Jamaica to meet him, hoping to sign him to perform at a show she and two of her friends were planning to stage. "He had one or two songs out at the time. He wasn't that expensive then, so I got his number and flew to Jamaica and got directions to (Cassava) Piece. When I came out of the car, he didn't want to do business anymore," she said laughing. " 'You are gonna have my babies', that's what he said."

Their relationship blossomed, she said, and she would often come down to Jamaica, spending a month at a time, following him to shows. He also invited her to Cassava Piece where he introduced her to his family and friends. "Those were the high points," she said.

But it wouldn't last. "He has another girl," she said, and their paths crossed at a birthday party Mavado had at the Amazura nightclub in New York in 2007. Nothing happened when they first met but after that, a full-scale assault was launched against her on the MySpace page that she was using to promote her tee-shirt line. Less than flattering stories about her were also posted on a local entertainment website, she said, and the resulting comments were very negative.

Wrong perception

Kerry said that eventually people were of the view that she had started to date Mavado to start and boost her tee-shirt line. It would get worse. "They (supporters of the other girlfriend) put my home number out there to solicit sex, called my mother and was rude to her. One day, they called my house more than 30 times," she said.

After a while, it became too much to bear, she said, and she decided to leave the situation behind and move on.

She is now focused on landing a distribution deal here in Jamaica and setting up a website through which she intends to market her one-of-a-kind tees.