Houma, Louisiana isn’t much of a hotbed for anything, but something ill coming from the bottom of the map is 25-year-old, LaStarya Tucker. With the devastation from Katrina still in the minds and hearts of its Louisiana residents, Ms. Tucker is using modeling as an avenue to find a brighter way for her future.

With massive hits on her MySpace, Tucker is finishing up work on her own personal site – LaStarya.com– and hopes to have a launch party at the top of the new year. As Beauty & Brains sits down with the Down South vixen, the “Star” amongst stars talks about working with Lil Wayne, what will help her be successful and speaks on why white men love her so much.

Beauty & Brains: How far is Houma away from Baton Rouge or New Orleans?
LaStarya Tucker: I live in New Orleans now, but it’s about an hour away. I’ve been in New Orleans for about four, five years, now. I am ready for something new. I haven’t decided where I want to go. My three choices are Miami, Atlanta and Los Angeles. It’s too crowded for me in New York. I can deal with that in clubs, but I still need to have some space to be alright.

B&B: So, how’d you get into doing videos, promo work and ads and not in a major market place like California or New York?
LT: I used to work at this club that was called Utopia – I worked as a cocktail waitress. A guy pulled up in a Lexus, where I worked at and as he was looking at me, asked if I wanted to be in a video. At the time, there were no customers, so I told my boss there was an emergency and I left. [Laughs] I was wearing my hair in a mini-fro at the time, too. There were other girls in the car, too. The video was for Lil Wayne and it was fun. [Laughs] My role in the video was that I had to be a police officer in the video in the small booty shorts. My mom was mad about that. [Laughs] We had to jump out and arrest Lil Wayne and his friends.

B&B: What is different from doing ads and calendar and you doing videos?
LT: When you do the calendars, you get more respect from people; whereas in the videos, you don’t get as much, if any at all. In the videos, people were rude because when it was time for us to get lunch, they would let the men eat the food before they’d let the women eat. After all was said and done, there wasn’t any food for us to eat, so they ordered us pizza! I would rather work. [Laughs] A lot of girls would like to do videos, which is cool, but you don’t even get paid that much, anymore. There are some who even do it for free, but in the process of doing all that, you’re not treated as a young lady or a lady at all.

B&B: How do the people back home look at you and your career?
LT: When I did my first video, the phone was ringing off the hook. I had a big pose in the video. You saw my butt shaking, wresting with Lil Wayne and throwing him in the van. Everyone was excited, but I wasn’t that excited. I was looking for the next job. My hair was short and I needed to get a new look. I look totally different now. You can go on my MySpace page and I added new pictures. I wasn’t really a “hair” person. I loved my short hair. The braids worked out, then that got old, then I progressed to wearing “other people’s hair” on my head. When I meet guys, they like the pictures where I don’t have the long hair; they say that I looked like someone’s wife.

B&B: As you try to make progress – what is the hardest thing that you’ve experienced while being in this business?
LT: The hardest thing has been dealing with relationships. Some guys don’t like the clothes that I wear. They don’t like the attention that I get. I had a boyfriend who didn’t want me to do videos. When I’m not doing anything, I get on MySpace. He tells me that I’m a MySpace freak, but he sits down and watches football all day. With him, I can be exposed… I have two pages. He calls me “Ms. Celebrity Star.” He’s entitled to speak his mind, but it’s all about knowing that this is how I work and get my money. When he met me, he saw those pictures. I think in the end, all he wants is to have our time to be just that – our time.

B&B: Do you believe that there is a future in the industry that you’re in?
LT: I really hope so. When I first started doing it, I wasn’t pushing into it. I wasn’t the type to live, breath, eat this shit. Even with the local people, because the local people will keep other people looking at you. They’ll show you love. I feel like God gave me this body for a reason. What other purpose can I use it for? Before the hurricane, I wasn’t into it at all. I had stopped. But when I came back, I was still slacking off. I’m getting my shit in gear and getting it poppin’. I won’t have this body for long. I want to get married and have kids. Continued on page 2 »