Save the Drama! A Fresh, New Look at VH1-BBW: LA's Draya
By Eric Bendross
May 2012
Amid all of the controversy, a young, ambitious mother emerges victorious. That’s right! Draya will not allow her detractors to get the best of her. As a matter of fact she considers them a non-factor. Aiming to usher in a renewal of her public persona; the reality TV star shares some of her hopes for a prosperous future which certainly will include her son, another exciting season of Basketball Wives: LA, a new bikini line and more!
Intro to Draya Michele:
“Basically, I’m out here in Hollywood, doing my thing…I did Basketball Wives (LA) so that’s pretty much what everyone knows me for but before that I was just trying to find my way in the urban modeling world, doing music videos, commercials; things like that and you know, I have a lot of things going on…so that’s basically me in a nutshell; I wear many hats.”
Draya on her upcoming projects:
“Well, as of right now I’m working on my own swimsuit line and that’s called Mint Swim …that has been taking up the majority of my time. It’s a bikini line for the daring and the very sexy. And then we’re going to begin our taping of Season 2 of Basketball Wives (LA).”
Who are your favorite wives and why?
“On this Season it’s just going to be Tami and Kesha… I like Kesha; you know, the way she remains calm and I like her accent. She just reminds me of a Southern Bell and she just seems like a nice, sweet girl. And then I like Tami; she’s the opposite of that, you know, she’s very wild and says what’s on her mind. I just like that; she seems like a very strong woman and she’s very influential as far as black women go”
What do you have to say to your opponents in the media? The haters?
“I mean, basically, it’s just: nobody’s perfect and you know, the less that we judge the more comfortable we are in life. You know, I think people are very judgmental…they’re very uncomfortable with their own lives. You know, I don’t even have the time to focus on what other people are doing to even give negative feedback towards them because I’m just so busy, so… I mean I just hope people find things to do with their time other than research other people’s lives and then pass judgment on it.”
After editing of the show, what do you hope the portrayal of yourself will be on this Season?
“…the editing is a mystery, it’s always a mystery. You want one thing and then they show another thing, so... I mean, basically, just… I want them to show me working, that I’m a real businesswoman and that I take everything that I do for money very seriously. And, you know, that I’m just a different type of person…I’m not married and I don’t receive child-support so all the income that I make is all mine so it’s important to me to have a job and to stay busy. And I just want them to show… everything that I do for money and in my career is for my family because I take care of a lot of people”
How are your son and the family?
“My son and my Mom are very well. My son comes out here every other month to California. And he’ll be spending the entire summer out here, actually. So, right now we’re just waiting for his school to end and then he’ll be out here in L.A. with me.”
What has kept you going throughout all of the hardships, glitz and glamour?
“Well, definitely my Mom; she’s my main motivation and she just pushes me to be…to do better and she just pushes me to keep going, you know, not to settle with where I’m at in life that there’s always…you know, that I can go up! Always… there’s always an escalator leading to somewhere and my Mom is the one who’s behind me, encouraging me to do those things.”
After it’s all said and done what do you want to be remembered for?
“I just want to be remembered as, you know, all bad girls are not bad girls and you know, I’m not known for the many good things that I do. I was more known for the bad things that people think that I do. And I’m just trying to turn that around, just to let them know that I could start off bad but I’m working day by day to clean up this image and to let the world know that I’m a good person inside and out.”
The following questions were asked on behalf of some of the readers that follow my work:
If you had it to do all over again, would you still do Basketball Wives (LA)?
“Yes, definitely I would do it over again. I haven’t got this much exposure ever in my life and I don’t know what I would have done instead. I mean I had a plan but I don’t know what I would have done instead of Basketball Wives (LA) in order to make it where I am today.”
Is there anything you would have changed? Your approach, your introduction to the other ladies on the show?
“No, I wouldn’t change anything, simply because I was 100% myself, you know? … a lot people would have wanted me to be a little bit more mean, a little bit more aggressive but I mean in all reality that’s not my personality. And, you know, I just…I gave the audience exactly what they wanted: reality and that was really me, so… no, I wouldn’t change anything.”
How would a clothing designer or makeup artist go about getting in touch with you?
“I’m signed to an agency that’s pretty much exclusively me so if they wanted to send me something or work with me, they’d basically just have to hit up my agency and we have a simple website: www.tsdagency.com ”
How tall are you?
“5’6”…”
