Celebrity News
Pretty Vee is one of one. I know it, you know it. She has emerged as one of the funniest influencers on social media and has directly contributed to and driven the pioneering class of creators who have mastered their brands and pivoted from digital content, straight to opportunities that land them with the bag. One quick search of her Reels will leave you in tears, sending clips to friends and waiting to see what she does next.
And Pretty Vee, real name Vena Excell, has had quite the journey to get to where she is today, a comedian, host, actress, model, entertainer, and most importantly, an entrepreneur. She also scored a role on Issa Rae's Rap Sh!t, MTV’s Wild ‘N Out (alongside other comedians turned influencers (or vice versa), likeKarlous Miller, DC Young Fly, and Chico Bean), and much more. Her face is everywhere, with her approach to sketch comedy leading the way.
But according to Vee, although a long time coming, her journey in comedy is nothing but purposeful.
She went into detail while visiting The Pivot Podcast where everything was on the table, from her dating life to working with Nick Cannon. When asked how she got started, she explained, "[After college] I was working a 9-5 -- it was actually Arnold Taylor's admin assistant (South Coast Music Group), and I knew, so I was just trying to figure it out. But then I got fired, chile and..."
After the hosts asked her why she was fired, she continued:
"I think I was late and Arnold told me, 'Vena, this is not where you need to be.' He was like, 'You are so stuck in your world of comedy, you need to go and get that.' So I always tell Arnold when I see him, I say thank you. Thank you for firing me because it pushed me. It excelled me where I am right now."
And she hasn't looked back since. Talk about stepping into your purpose!
What's even better, is other celebs have shared similar stories about times they've been fired due to the same sentiments. Janelle Monae revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she was fired from Office Depot after responding to a fan on a work computer. "Long story short: my boss said, ‘Listen, we’re gonna make this easy for you: You’re fired. Go do what you love. You don’t wanna be here’ … But luckily it led me to stay focused on what I loved.”
Nicki Minaj told Billboard:“I’d been fired like 15 times because I had a horrible attitude. The last job I had was as an office manager in a little, tiny room where I literally wanted to strangle this guy because he was so loud and obnoxious. I would go home with stress pains in my neck and my back. That’s when I went to my mother and said, ‘Look, I’m not going back to work.’" She focused on her music from that day forward.
Kerry Washington told the Hollywood Reporter that she was too fired from a pilot show, "Before Scandal, the only other two pilots I’d ever done were shows that got picked up, but I got fired. They recast my character on both shows … But if I had gotten picked up on one of them, I wouldn’t have been able to do Ray, you know what I mean? It seems at the time like a my-career-is-over moment, but it makes perfect sense in the end.”
And ladies, that's the beauty of purpose: it never makes sense to us at the time, but it always does in the end.
Pretty Vee is a living testimony, closing her interview by saying, "I think for me, when I left everything in God's hands, that's when it started moving for me. That was my moment. Instead of having the anxiety, the nervousness, the cringy moments, I think it was more of just leaving it into God's hands instead of trying to lean on me. 'Cause we don't got the answers."
We don't have them at all.
Pretty Vee: Getting Fired From Job Led to Finding Her Calling in Comedy, Film & Business | The Pivot
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.
Featured image by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for BET
ALSO ON XONECOLE