Being beautiful is the least of Krystal Michele’s problems. The 22-year-old Jacksonville, Florida resident has other things on her mind. A few of them happen to be promoting amongst her fellow jewels in the rough – the Duval Dymondz and injecting her Southern charms in up-and-coming “gutter ambassador” – Plies “Shawty” video. The scintillating Aquarius has been making heads do a 360 degrees all throughout the Florida state. But would also make heads turn and a few brains pop out of the skulls is the fact that Ms. Michele is going to school studying Radiation Therapy. Her body isn’t the only thing that could cause a nuclear meltdown.

The bodacious beauty has carved a niche for herself inside and outside of the limelight. Hoping to utilize modeling as a springboard into other avenues, Ms. Michele continues to network and promote herself through casting calls and by way of her MySpace page. In the digital age, this vixen is hot enough to yearn for the touch, but smart enough to know which one is golden. Ms. Krystal Michele sits down with Beauty & Brains as she discusses how it was working with Plies, how modeling affects her personally and professionally and she goes into her past and dishes about her own personal “shawty.”

B&B: Urban modeling is a very tough and sometimes lucrative business to get into. What have been the perks of the business and what are some of the pitfalls?
KM: The perks of this business are that by being in an urban industry, as an urban model, one of the perks would be that even without the money you get that fame. You know how Black people are… you’re going to know Ray-Ray from around the corner. The urban community as a whole, we have a connection about ourselves. Everyone is two degrees away from someone, you know? That’s one thing that I can say about the business. It’s all depending on the people that you meet. There are the ones who can help you get to that next level. The negative is that everyone wants something for free. At the end of the day, you have to pay a lot of dues to even get your foot in the door. Another good thing is that because you have to pay those dues, you learn very quickly how to navigate in the business. For the most part, I feel like I know what I am doing. I feel like I have only done this for a year and I learned more than what I thought I would learn at that time, so quickly.

B&B: Most women’s aspirations are to move from this and become a successful model. Why does that seem to be the profession of choice for most women in this business?
KM: I can’t speak for everyone else, but I know the reason why it’s my choice is because I’ve always wanted to be an actor. I have been trying to get into projects with acting for as long as I can remember. I’ve never wanted to participate in music videos until I met a director and he told me that there were roles within the urban modeling industries that would allow me to showcase my acting abilities. I just think that people look at Halle Berry and she’s beautiful. Hollywood is beautiful. Most actresses become models. She [Halle] is a model for Cover Girl. So is Queen Latifah. I think it goes both ways. Continued on page 2 »