Yellowtail was born in the small rural town of Wyola, located in the southeast corner of Montana near the Wyoming border. She is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and grew up with her four siblings and parents on the Crow Reservation. Her parents are Wailes and Lena Yellowtail. With proximity of their family ranch close to the borders of both Montana and Wyoming, the Yellowtails are able to be residents of both states. Aunts and grandmothers taught Yellowtail to sew. Yellowtail attended Tongue River schools in Ranchester, Wyoming, 23 miles from her family's ranch in Wyola, Montana. She graduated from Tongue River High School in 2007. She attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
Career
Yellowtail began working in fashion with the BCBG Max Azria Group, then became a pattern maker for private labels before founding her own company B.Yellowtail in 2014. In 2015, Bethany was selected as a First Peoples Fund Artist in Business Leadership Fellow. As a Native designer, Yellowtail confronts cultural appropriation in the fashion industry. PBS Indie Lens Storycast featured B.Yellowtail as part of a series of short films called alter-NATIVE by Billy Luther.
Political
Yellowtail is an active supporter of women's rights. For the 2017 Women's March on the National Mall in Washington D.C., Yellowtail collaborated with fellow Montana artist John Isaiah Pepion to create a custom-designed scarf featuring Native American women, each wearing a War Bonnet. In Crow Nation culture, women traditionally do not wear a full headdress, except for the special occasion of the Shoshone War Bonnet Dance, regarded as the highest honor for Crow women. Yellowtail chose the design to underscore female empowerment and respect. The scarf was worn by the many indigenous women as part of the , a grassroots advocacy group first gathering at the Women's March. Yellowtail includes the works of several Native American artists and designers as part of The B.Yellowtail Collective, part of her efforts to support the entrepreneurship of fellow Native Americans.
