COVER STORY: DRAYA MICHELE
Actress, model, fashionista, entrepreneur…the list goes on.
Draya Michele certainly has an impressive and robust resume when it comes to the world of entertainment. We had the chance to sit down and talk with Draya about her incredible career thus far and what she has in store for the future.
Premier: How did it feel to be approached by the legacy brand of Penthouse for this opportunity?
Draya: I’m not sure how or when I was “discovered” but if I had to guess, I did a photoshoot with a vintage [Penthouse] magazine across my chest and I think they might have noticed it and me, which started this relationship that kind of snowballed from there. I got asked to do this shoot and I was like, “Yeah but what about the…’you know’…?” and I was informed that there wasn’t going to be any nudity and I was down. [Penthouse] is iconic to me and how I grew up and iconic to pretty much everyone, so I was like ‘Yeah, I’m down. Let’s do it.’
P: How do you feel about the new direction we’re going in, having more of a lifestyle, cinematic, “for the people by the people” type of approach? Do you think that works well with today’s demographic?
D: I definitely think that you have to go with who you’re trying to show things to. Your audience is your audience and if your audience has become younger or you’re trying to gain a younger, more mainstream audience, yeah you’ve gotta do things a little different, you know? The industry that this brand started from is a little bit older now, they’re more mature. So yeah, when you’re in 2020, you’ve gotta do things different. Everything is digital, everything has pops of color and it’s all these things that the kids like. Whatever you call them, Generation Z, X, I don’t even know which one I am. But yeah, you’ve gotta please who your crowd is.
P: Were you always into fashion and design?
D: I always was into fashion, not really designing as much. Growing up there were things – pieces of clothing – that I always loved and desired, but I wasn’t able to afford the stuff that I actually liked and wanted to wear. Now it’s the opposite. Now I can buy whatever I want, and I like to wear affordable pieces.
P: I know you’ve dabbled in acting. Is that something you want to pursue? What’s on your priority list? Fashion Designer, Entrepreneur, Actor?
D: Like my publicist would say, I’m a “multi-hyphenate”. I guess that means I’ve got multi hyphens in my name, so it’s Designer, Entrepreneur, Model, Actress, Mother, Friend, Boss. It’s all of these things. I love acting. It’s very challenging. It’s the most challenging thing I’ve ever had to do in my life and I think that’s why I like it. It’s not about the money with acting, it’s about the challenge that it gives me and the reward, when it’s completed, of a finished body of work. It adds to my legacy.
P: Would you encourage creatives to be open minded to new passions that may come across their art or across their mind?
D: Oh my gosh, I am the spokesperson for “you do not just have to be one thing”. You can be many things. I’ve tried so many things and I’ve not succeeded at everything I’ve tried. There are multiple things that I’ve failed at. But even though you fail, it doesn’t mean it should steer you away from trying. You should definitely try anything and everything that your heart desires. Like I said: I’ve got lots of jobs, I wear lots of hats. Today, I’m a model. Tomorrow, I’m going to be doing something else. Next week, hopefully I’m acting. Who knows? Try it all.
P: Do some of your fans look to you for encouragement? Unlike other celebrities, you come off as a humble human being versus someone who is just a brand.
D: I would say that I’m down to earth but if you ask about my friends, I would say I look to them for encouragement. I look to them to stay grounded. I’m in the celebrity circuit but I don’t hang with too many celebrities. My friends have been my friends for over ten years and they’re just fun nice girls and they keep me reminded of where I come from. It’s a very humble, down to earth friendship that we have.
P: Motherhood: From inception to your introduction to the world of media, you had your son with you. Was that something that you planned?
D: When I first started to become known and be on TV, I didn’t really know the effects and challenges my son would face by being on TV. After I gave him a small taste of it, I decided to pull back and I’m glad that I did. As a teenager, he doesn’t really enjoy it. He doesn’t enjoy the limelight, he’s a very normal teenager. And I think, as parents, there are certain things that we need to learn to start asking permission for. If I were to ask him right now to take a picture of him, there’s a 99% chance he’d say know. People that have teenagers, they feel me. Some people ask me why I don’t post him on my page. It’s because he has his own life and he doesn’t want to be on his mom’s page. To him, I’m just his mom. I’m not a “cool mom”. I’m not allowed to follow him.
P: What has been the best thing about quarantine?
D: The bright side of quarantine? I got to spend a lot of time with my kids. Work and travel have slowed down tremendously so the last handful of months, I’ve been home and I’ve been taking photographs. I’m not embarrassed to say I have 48,000 pictures on my iPhone right now. So what I’ve started to do is I went back to the time to when I was pregnant and I started taking blocks of photos and sending them to get printed at Walgreen’s. it’s very time consuming to do like one month’s worth of pictures. I actually have physical pictures now. When is the last time you can say you went and got photos developed? That’s the best thing about quarantine. I’ve had time to remember things and print pictures and take pictures and organize. Next, I’m going to be scrapbooking.
P: Post-quarantine, what’s the first thing you’re going to do?
D: Just for me, I want to go to the club. I want to go to anything where there’s a lot of people. Not right now because I don’t feel safe, but once it is safe, I want to go to the club, I want to go to concerts, I want to go to sporting events, Coachella, I want to do all that stuff. As a businessperson, I want to be able to open my stores back up. I have a nail shop and a swimwear store and they’re both closed because of quarantine. I would like to be able to conduct business as normal.