- 1 day ago
The ladies of VHI's Love & Hip Hop franchise share updates on how they’ve navigateed the past year and weigh in on what you can expect for the upcoming season of Love & Hip Hop Atlanta, premiering Monday, July 5th.
Panelists:
Sierra Gates - Reality Star & Beauty Entrepreneur
Yandy Smith - Reality Star & Beauty Entrepreneur
Rasheeda Frost - Reality Star & Fashion Entrepreneur
Brande Victorian -ESSENC Senior Entertainment Editor
Panelists:
Sierra Gates - Reality Star & Beauty Entrepreneur
Yandy Smith - Reality Star & Beauty Entrepreneur
Rasheeda Frost - Reality Star & Fashion Entrepreneur
Brande Victorian -ESSENC Senior Entertainment Editor
Category
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the 2021 Essence Festival of Future. I'm Brandi
00:13Victorian, Senior Entertainment Editor here at Essence, and today we'll be checking in with a
00:18few of your favorite ladies from the cast of VH1's Love & Hip Hop Atlanta ahead of the show's new
00:23studio. Joining me today, we have Yandy Smith, TV personality, business maven, and founder of Yale
00:30Skin Care. Hi, how are you? Hi, good. How you doing? I'm doing well, thank you. Good, good to see you.
00:37Good to see you, too. And we also have Rashida Frost, TV personality and founder of Pressed ATL
00:43Apparel and Accessories. Hello, beautiful ladies. Hey, how you doing? Hey, girl. I'm good.
00:49Hey. And last, we have TV personality and CEO of the Glam Shop Beauty Bar, Sierra Gates.
00:57Hi. Hello. Hey, mom. Hey, Andy. Hey. Well, thank you so much to all of you for taking the time to
01:07chat with us, and I really want to get right into our discussion. Who on the show have you been able
01:12to form the most meaningful, you know, sisterhoods with, and how have those relationships sustained
01:18you over the past year? Well, you know, I started in New York, and now I've just recently transitioned
01:24to Atlanta. And there's one thing that I can say. I spent 11 years in New York. So, of course,
01:31I've had bonds with different women at different times, because it's kind of been a transition.
01:37There's been a lot of different changing faces. I've had best friends. I've had girls that I've gotten
01:41to know. One thing that I can say about the Atlanta cast is that I admire these women so much,
01:46and I respect them. They definitely inspire me. They call me higher. I was like, I cannot be out
01:52in Atlanta and not open up something, because every single one of these ladies out here got
01:57businesses, brick and mortar. I was like, I got, you know, it really made me feel inspired. And I love
02:04being out here. I love being around them, because they're always opening something new, expanding.
02:11And, you know, even with Ciara saying that she wants to get more involved, I wanted to tell you that
02:16all that you do as far as training young women to be millionaires, and, you know, even you,
02:22Rashida, hiring. I went to Rashida's store and her restaurant. It's all Black and brown people that
02:27work there. Those are forms of activism as well, because you are giving to the next generation, and
02:33you're teaching and training. And all of that ownership is a part of what's going to give us power.
02:38And I think that it's important for you to recognize that in your own right, you're activists
02:43as well.
02:44Wow. Thank you.
02:46Of course.
02:47I think it's important for us to, you know, utilize our platform and to come together. There's strength
02:54in numbers.
02:55That's right.
02:55And if we're able to elevate one another, there's nothing more beautiful than Black women
03:00uplifting other Black women. And the thing that we have to make really clear is women are some of
03:09the, and I ain't going to sit here on Cap like I know the percent, but the percent is high, as far
03:14as being entrepreneurs, being audience owners as women. And that's something that I'm extremely proud
03:21of. And I love to see us continue to grow and elevate. It's important. But the most important part
03:28of God is for us to uplift each other and support each other and make sure that we have each other's
03:34back. And, you know, with us, you know, me and Andy and Sierra, we've all just spent some really
03:42great time together. And that was actually the bonding time where we were able to get to know each
03:49other even more and realize that, you know, we're all really strong women out here, just really
03:55trying to grow. I think we all can say that we're a work in progress, but at the same time, we are
04:01trying to build, grow, and be better each and every day.
04:05Yep. Yes, I agree. So you asked who out of the cast, who I spent the most time with or who
04:14I built the most, you know, the most valuable relationship with. I would have to say I truly
04:20admire every single person on my cast, every single woman on my cast. I just admire them.
04:27They all hold like a different special type of place in my heart because I look up to them for
04:33different reasons. And I'm just under, honestly, really talking. Andy, Rashida, y'all know I always
04:41tell y'all how much I love y'all, how much I look up to y'all. Like I truly do. Like I truly do.
04:46I always express that. Like, I feel like you guys paved the way for me and other girls. And then
04:52y'all kind of passed the torch to me. And then I kind of paved the way for other girls. So it's
04:58just like, I would have to say everybody, everybody, I genuinely from my heart love and learn different
05:04things from everybody from my cast. You know, from one season to the next, we've seen so much growth
05:10with, with every woman personally, but then professionally, like you said, and I don't think
05:14there's that much conversation had around the positive growth and change, you know, from
05:20one season to the next and how long we've followed each of your journeys. So I would love if you
05:25all could just kind of speak on the power of that impact, you know, and people watching you
05:31all and how that can help affect change in a grander scale.
05:36I'm always the one behind the scenes, like, listen, you need to see growth. Do y'all understand
05:41this. People don't want to see rater tree all the time. You get it.
05:46More like the mama slash, you know, one who's like, no conflict. Let's just be as peaceful as
05:52we can be. But, you know, in hindsight, in the real world, we deal with so many different things.
05:59And, you know, but I think it's just everybody growing and understand the time to elevate and
06:04being able to make decisions. And, you know, when you have other friends that you can speak to
06:10and other cast members who can lead you in the right direction, when you feeling like you going
06:15in the wrong way, thinking to do something crazy, you know, and you know, you have that person because
06:19their mindset is in a different place and surrounding yourself around people who, you know, think a little
06:26better. It's very important. But, you know, for the most part, you know, it's going on in years
06:32with the Love and Hip Hop Atlanta. And, you know, you have to give glory to God, for one, for the
06:39opportunity. But you also have to know within yourself to understand growth, to understand, you
06:48know, that this light doesn't shine all the time. So make sure you're using and doing things to the
06:54best of your capability so that when that light does, you know, dim down, that you're able to have the
07:01reputation and the whatever word I'm looking for to, you know, evolve and continue to move forward
07:08in a positive light because it can be, you know, looked at in a different way if you don't make
07:15the right move. You know, just, you have to, you know, set a plan, try to do the best things that
07:23you can. Try to surround yourself around people who are elevating and moving so that I can keep you
07:28moving forward in more of a positive light than being caught up in a whole bunch of BS that's not
07:33going to do nothing for you. It ain't going to benefit you and it ain't going to make you a point.
07:36That's right. Yeah. I agree. I agree with what Rashida is saying. Um, loving hip hop is for sure
07:45for number one, a great opportunity. I was able to tell my testimony. It's so many girls that had
07:52kids at 15, 16, or just being a teen mom and has given up on life. But I was able to show like,
07:59look, I had a baby at 15 and I, I was able to keep going. So I just look at the good out of it.
08:06You know, how many girls come up to me just, just yesterday I was sitting down eating and somebody
08:12came up to me and was like, Oh my God, just appreciate you telling your story because it
08:16gave me hope. And now I have an eyelash business because I was at my weekend and this and this and
08:21this. So I can say that God works in a serious way and he will use certain things to make and to,
08:28to, to spread word and his light to so many people. So I just say, I appreciate loving hip hop
08:36genuinely because I was able to tell my testimony and for sure. I'm, I'm happy for the girls that
08:43have got my testimony and was able to change their lives. You just through just my testimony,
08:48you know what I'm saying? That's good. I think the women that last the longest on this show
08:55are the ones that understand that this is just a stepping stone, right? The ones that come in to
09:01make a moment just for that moment, they never last because the moments aren't real life, right?
09:07Real life is about ups and downs and growth. You know, anything that stops moving and stops growing
09:13is dead and also will be cut off the show. Usually. Um, so I think that it's an imperative
09:20part of being on this franchise is growing in your, you know, growing in your life, growing in your
09:26family, growing in love, growing in your business. And those are the things that they want to follow
09:32because that represents real life. At least it should represent real life of our culture. You know,
09:38we don't have the opportunity where we could just sit back and let everybody else work for us.
09:42We have to live and grow and do in order to exist in this space. I think the franchise in itself has
09:49grown and evolved. You know, I think that there was a time when people just looked at our show
09:55for entertainment, whatever that was, whatever, jumping across the table and, you know, whatever
10:01that meant, that's what they wanted. I think now people are looking at the show for sometimes marital
10:07advice, sometimes figuring out how to cope in situations, trying to figure out how to deal with,
10:13you know, a loved one that has to get incarcerated, how to deal with losing a best friend or how to
10:19deal with running a business and having a family. Um, so I appreciate that as we've grown, the franchise
10:26have grown with us as well. And I think as you can see, a lot of us are getting older. I mean,
10:31I started out on this franchise 11 years ago. So I'm 11 years older, you know, I have children now,
10:38I have a husband now. Um, so there's so many different things that are just different. And,
10:44and, and, and I think that it's important for, as, as we grow, we have to understand that our audience
10:49is growing up too. And I think it's important that we stay relevant to who our core fan base is and grow
10:56with them. Yeah. Yeah. We know you're ready to not play about business and you always have something
11:03new, um, going on. So tell us, you know, what's coming up next for each of you. So I'm super excited.
11:09I just opened up my first Yale skincare store. I told you earlier that I was super inspired by the
11:15ladies in Atlanta. Um, so I officially opened up a store in the underground Atlanta, which is an up
11:22and coming area. It used to be super popping. Um, my actual location has not been opened for five
11:28years. So I am the first person in five years to open up here. And I totally redid the inside of
11:34it. It looks like the garden of Eden. That's so good. I am actually just opened my third pressed
11:43location in Atlanta. So I have two press in Atlanta, one in Phipps Plaza, one in Midtown and the other
11:51press is located in the Galleria in Houston, Texas. And I've been, um, online with pressato.com
11:58for 11 and a half years. And I'm just super excited to be able to continue to grow and thankful to the
12:05Lord to be able to continue to open up new businesses, especially during a time where, you know, things
12:11were, you know, just kind of up in the air for a lot of us. Um, and I'm looking forward to expanding
12:16to about two to three more cities. Very dumb. Oh, yeah. Okay. So for me, um, you guys know,
12:26I have the glam shop on Peter street, like literally not too far from Frost Bistro, um,
12:32couple of doors down. And, um, so that's full, full service beauty loft. And then we also have
12:38microblading Sierra way that's on tour every year. We're on tour every weekend out of the year,
12:44except for January. And we're just teaching girls a simple technique, how to, and you'll be able to
12:51make six figures. And then we also have, um, money monsters Academy and that's online. We basically
12:58just showing you how to start a business in any business. It don't have to be beauty in a beauty
13:03industry, but you guys do know I was a makeup artist first. That's how I got my, my start. I was
13:08makeup artist for 13 years and, um, I'm working on something that is going to cater to the beauty
13:15industry. And I'm super, super excited. Y'all know. I love my brushes. Y'all know. I love
13:20my lip glosses and everything. So it's a little hint, but I'm super excited about that.
13:27Don't forget when you come to Atlanta to come to Frost Bistro.
13:30That's right.
13:31Thank you so much. And as a new Atlanta resident, I feel like I need to set my game up. So I appreciate
13:46you all for this. You got to come out. I will. I totally will. Uh, thank you so much for tuning
13:57in to the conversation and please stick around. There is more FFB coming up.
14:02Bye.
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