Miss Diddy On How She Hustled Her Way From Selling Insurance To The Only Woman Promoter In Hollywood
On a Sunday night when most people are turning in, HYDE Sunset is just turning up.
I walk in just shy of midnight and already the swanky nightclub is packed. Partygoers flank to the VIP sections where bottles of champagne and various liquors are popped, followed by an influx of beautiful women in taut dresses hoping to cop free libations for the night. The DJ announces the arrival of Chris Brown, just a few minutes after I spot Marlon Wayans and King Bach strolling by. Forty-five minutes in I look up from my phone just in time to lock eyes with the woman responsible for bringing the party to life. Miss Diddy rushes up to me in her six-inch heels and a tan-colored dress, pulling me by the hand as she rushes back out the door to meet with one of her many celebrity guests for the evening before escorting us to her designated section across from the DJ booth.
“It’s crazy, girl!” Miss Diddy says to me before checking her phone and dashing off again.
Though she’s known for her Rolodex of celebrity friends and clients, if you ask Miss Diddy, she’s a superstar in her own right. “Anyone knows when I walk in the room I kind of light it up,” she says. “Everything kind of gravitates to me and it’s always if they don’t know they’ll be like who is she? I’ve always had a star power.”
“Anyone knows when I walk in the room I kind of light it up. I’ve always had a star power.”
What can easily be considered cockiness is really an air of confidence. When Miss Diddy speaks, it’s with a certain assuredness that indicates that she knows who she is, and she’ll be damned if you don’t know it, too. She gets it from her mama, she tells me, a woman who could command a room as soon as she walked in the door.
Despite being a self-proclaimed shy gal, Miss Diddy says that ironically she always thrived in social environments, and soon learned to embrace her strong personality and hustler mentality that would eventually lead her to becoming Hollywood’s only female promoter. But before she could assume the role of becoming the “It Girl” of urban nightlife, she first had to figure out what it was that she was actually purposed to do. “I begged God for my purpose actually,” she says. “I begged him to release it to me. And I remember the first time I understood the importance of what I was seeking for, he told me that it was too big; I can’t show you that.”
As a kid growing up in Compton, Miss Diddy was free to explore anything that captured her interest, from hair and makeup to sewing. “In my house, we weren’t booked bashed, and it freed me to be able to really explore things that I was great at.”
But being born into a family of creatives (her dad was a musician and her great grandmother wrote songs with Mahalia Jackson), Diddy—a nickname gifted to her by her high school buddies—naturally gravitated to entertainment. During her second year of college, she found more value in street smarts than book smarts and decided to drop out in pursuit of real-world experiences. Her first taste of working in the industry came soon after when John Monopoly, former manager for Kanye West, offered her a job doing the west coast promotions for the G.O.O.D. Music label.
Miss Diddy excelled by doing what she does best—connecting people. She gathered a group of 20 beautiful women who deemed themselves as the “G.O.O.D. Girls” and took over street team marketing and promotions for the label. Simultaneously she was still working in insurance, but the money didn’t make up for her lack of fulfillment. When she had a sudden revelation that she no longer belonged with that company, she walked out of her job the same day and never looked back.
“I remember sitting in my office and he was like this is your last day here,” she discloses in an interview with Jocelyn Vega. “I started picking up stuff from my office in my office and taking it slowly down to my car that day.”
Thank to her industry connections and mentors such as Kenny Burns, she was able to transition into being a full-time promoter. “A lot of times you start as a promoter and then you go to a higher level and then you’re lucky if you’re able to get a music industry job, but I came in with a Rolodex of really great connections. I also sat under Kanye and John—guys whose vision were so crazy and phenomenal in how they view things.”
Her years of learning under her mentors paid off, and true to the Diddy moniker, she went above and beyond to make her name a staple in lifestyle marketing. While most promoters were busy being the life of the party, Miss Diddy was creating the party and married together nightlife and entertainment through star-studded events.
“I was able to look almost from a third eye and really see what was missing and what I can bring to the table because I’m a very business-minded by nature, and a lot of promoters aren’t. I don’t care about sitting here and partying and drinking. I’m not doing any of that. How do we maximize it to make the most of it? What’s going to make this party bigger? What’s going to make it greater? What’s going to make this moment last longer than Usher’s having a party? And we did it every week. It was also important for me to be able to put my artist friends in positions to win.”
"It was also important for me to be able to put my artist friends in positions to win.”
But Diddy wasn’t just satisfied with the applause, she wanted the recognition, too, and to take control of her success by being her own boss. “I was a tour manager with an artist that was a close friend of mine since I was a kid, and we parted ways and I said I never want to be in the position again where someone is able to dictate my livelihood, and I went to go start The Brand Group, and it just went crazy.”
The full-service marketing and PR firm, which currently has a staff of ten employees, solidified Diddy as a branding connoisseur, and soon she was getting calls from clients such as Russell Simmons for re-branding of All Def Comedy Live and celebrity and lifestyle brands looking to get her Midas touch.
On any given day the culture queen has her plate filled with creative meetings to overseeing event production. Having a consistent prayer life keeps her calm in the midst of the daily storms. “It takes a tough and graceful person to be in the position that I’m in. It’s not something that’s easy for anyone. You have to be very levelheaded if you want to be successful, “ Diddy says.
Of course, being the only female in a male-dominated industry isn’t easy; however, being one who can hold her own without getting caught up in the he say she say enables her to strut in her six-inch Louboutins while still getting things done. “In this business the way you’re perceived and viewed is everything,” says Diddy. “I’ve been lucky and blessed to be a very, very respected woman. And I’ve also been blessed to have great work ethic and to have results. I understood that the details don’t matter, they want results. And that’s what I was always able to provide so no one could negate my work, no one could act as if my work didn’t speak for itself, and I think that’s really what it was for me.”
"In this business the way you’re perceived and viewed is everything."
As much as she enjoys living life amongst the rich and the famous, Diddy believes that this is only just the beginning of what she is destined to do. Although she still has a goal of creating a positive impact on the same inner cities that she came from, she’s no longer putting herself on a set timeline to achieve certain goals. “By the time I was 25, I thought I would have bought my mom a Jaguar and I’d have a kid, but life happens. Life evolves, and as long as you’re on track, that’s all that matters.”
But by no means does that mean that this girl boss is going to sit idly by while pursuing a path of purpose, nor is she limiting herself to just being the only woman promoter in L.A. “I’m still a work in progress following God’s dream. Whatever God leads me to do and opens doors for, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Featured image by Prince Williams/WireImage
Kiah McBride writes technical content by day and uses storytelling to pen real and raw personal development pieces on her blog Write On Kiah. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @writeonkiah.
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Crystal Renay Is Prioritizing Healing, Her Kids, And Her Coins Amid Divorce
Crystal Renay is reclaiming her time and her identity after dealing with heartbreak. The model was married to Ne-Yo for seven years and they share three young children together. However, after a cheating scandal that resulted in a baby outside of their relationship, Crystal decided to end her marriage to the “So Sick” singer. Now, she is focusing on her bag and her kids. She is co-owner of Johnny’s Chicken and Waffles, launching a lip kit line, and is back on TV starring in the new WE TV reality series Bold & Bougie.
But it wasn’t an easy road, especially with reality TV. From the beginning, Crystal and her castmates bumped heads due to misconceptions and alliances with her ex-husband’s former partner, Monyetta Shaw. However, the mother of three exclusively tells xoNecole that she doesn’t regret her decision to join the show.
Crystal Renay
Photo courtesy
“Honestly, being in that space, we had a– you know, when you're first getting to know people, sometimes it can be smooth, and sometimes it can be rocky,” she says. “In our case, it was a little bit rocky and just getting to know each other, and I like to call it growing pains. And I felt like we had a couple of moments, but all in all, like the experience was really good for me, and I would do it over again.”
Crystal describes herself as “career-oriented” and says she is in her selfish season because she is now prioritizing herself first. But she admits that she is still healing from her divorce. The reality TV star shares some tips for others who may be going through the same thing.
“I would definitely say pray, pray as much as you can. Try to take your emotions out of your reactions to things because it’s always going to be something that you don't like in the situation,” she says. “But we can't move off of emotion because 10 times out of 10, a few months later, you're not going to feel like that. So, I'm a firm believer in not doing things that I will regret later. So I would just say be patient with yourself and stay positive.”
While there may be an opportunity to find love again, that’s not Crystal’s focus at the moment. She is in the rebuilding phase of her life, emphasizing the importance of self-care, personal growth, and finding her own happiness. She has had her share of challenges, including dealing with negative emotions and the public's perception of her, but her priorities involve spending quality time with her children and running lucrative businesses.
“I would definitely say pray, pray as much as you can. Try to take your emotions out of your reactions to things because it’s always going to be something that you don't like in the situation.”
“With my kids, I'm very hands-on. I’m team mother with soccer kids, and they don't really make no goals because they like five years old, but I'm there cheering them on every week,” she jokes. “I want to travel, especially this summer, with my kids and take them somewhere internationally because they're at the age where they can handle a long flight. So, me just spending more time and more new experiences with my kids is my main focus with them and showing them all the love that I could possibly give them.”
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Photo courtesy of Crystal Renay