Tucson Meet Yourself Salesman Continues His Mother’s Legacy After Her Passing

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) – On the final day of Tucson Meet Yourself on Sunday, Charlotte Ham spoke with more and more customers and realized many of them could relate to her. Many of them had family members with memory problems.

Charlotte’s mother, Toni, was diagnosed with dementia four years ago.

“This determination and this drive that she had, I think, came naturally to her,” she described her mother.

Toni Ham started selling her hats at Tucson Meet Yourself in the ’90s, but started “Toni’s Designs” before that. She made large hats with feathers and ornate designs traditionally used by southern black women.

“I’m just showing that there’s a lot of color in our culture,” Charlotte said. “She had an entrepreneurial spirit, so I think that was kind of instilled in her and she passed that on to me.”

A few years ago, Charlotte took over from her mother and last year she began allowing customers to customize hats with her mother’s materials.

“She had a way of connecting with people through fashion by making people feel good,” Charlotte said.

Sadly, Toni passed away in December 2022 due to dementia. Charlotte was able to care for her mother before she passed and learned what it meant to care for a loved one with dementia.

“You lose them twice. You lose them mentally, and then you lose them in death,” she said.

Toni’s hats are now on display at the African American Museum of Southern Arizona. Part of the money Charlotte earns from selling hats is donated to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Charlotte is determined to share her mother’s legacy, even years after her death. The vendors next to her at the festival are people her mother knew. Even today, Charlotte hears stories about her mother that she never knew before.

“It brings me closer to her even though she’s no longer here,” she said.