There’s just something about those Virgos. I can’t stand they asses, but when you lock eyes with one, it is hard to resist their charming ways. Ms. Khalilyah Laveaux is no exception this rule. The cool-as-a-cucumber Californian is as smooth as they can come. Laveaux is a woman who seems at ease with her professional life, as well as her career and doesn’t even seem phased to do this interview with Beauty & Brains.

But as is true with most appearances, they’re deceiving and the 24-year-old starlet-in-training has not been a slouch with her work effort. Our readers here are known for their in-your-face criticism, but this is nothing that Ms. Khalilyah doesn’t do for herself. In this interview, you’ll get a better insight on mind of a true California champion as she discusses her parents thoughts on her profession, how Marilyn Monroe influenced her love life and why you’d never see her on a reality TV show.

Beauty & Brains: You have a very unique sounding name. How do you pronounce it?
Khalilyah Laveaux: It is pronounced - Kha-lil-y-ah.

B&B: Is there a meaning behind your name? Or was your mother a really big Aaliyah fan?
KL: Well, before I was born, my parents thought that I was going to be a boy. So, the nine months went by, I came out and I was a girl! [Laughs] So, they had to get creative on cue. That was the best that they could do.

B&B: What interested you in being in front of the camera?
KL: It’s always been something that I’ve been involved in. I have been mixed up in the entertainment field since I was seven-years-old. I love it. I really like to see the outcome of the work that I put into it. Being a Virgo, I always find myself critiquing myself and the work that I do. When I go to my acting classes, they tape your performance. So, I’ll take the work, go home and watch the progress that I’ve made from when I first began.

B&B: How were you when you first started?
KL: I was green when I first started. I was conscientious about who I was. I was a tomboy, too, which didn’t help my security. I was insanely insecure about being curvy. I would wear really big and baggy clothes to hide my figure. I didn’t want to be hot in the ass, dressing any type of way, so I would try my best not to bring attention to myself.

B&B: But for being such a pretty girl, how did being a model or so exposed go over with your folks?
KL: My mom doesn’t like it. My dad… he knows to an extent. He knows about the business. My mom used to model, so she kind of said that if I’m going to do it, that I do it all the way; especially if I want to do it. For my height, I’m considered tall, but I’m also curvy, so they consider me a plus-size model. The urban modeling, I accept it, that’s other people’s hustle, but for me, I’d like to further my career in other venues. I don’t want to branch off into the soft porn thing just for some exposure. I was raised in the church, so that’s not where I’m trying to go with it. If people just want pretty girls to pose, that’s fine. But I’m not into selling my body. I keep myself sexy classy. I want to still be able to show my mom my work, so she doesn’t have to slap me into next week. [Laughs]

B&B: Over the course of establishing a career, what have been a few obstacles you had to overcome?
KL: The obvious – everyone wants you to take off your clothes and wants you to sleep with them! Those are things that I would never do. If that’s you, then I wish you the best in whatever you want to do, but honestly, I won’t compromise myself. It may take me a few more years to become successful, but I will work hard to make it. In the acting business out here, when they hold a casting for a movie role, they’ll [casting directors] call in all their friends. On top of bringing in the people who are right for the role, they’re going to hook their people up first. It’s just commonplace. But with those friends, you may have people who are sleeping together and they’ll get those phone calls, too.

B&B: “A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left.” Pretty smooth quote from Marilyn Monroe. How does it apply to you?
KL: With everything. Men are going to be men and you can’t think that certain things aren’t going to happen. I’ve been cheated on. It’s just how you got to look at it; the first time that it happens, shame on you, right? And then, the second time, shame on me. You just have to keep your guards up.

B&B: So, how does that affect your relationships with men?
KL: I have very good charisma. I’m not cocky or anything. I’ll be kind and polite to people, but people try to sell me a dream. It goes on a lot out here in California. They say that they can build your career. You don’t have to do all of that in order to make a career. They just want to sleep with you. Once they get what they want, you’ll never hear from them again. They avoid you like the plague. It’s happened to a few of my girlfriends. What makes it worst is that you can’t go to the next industry head and tell them what happened because they then place the blame solely on the female! Continued on page 2 »