ENTERTAINMENTCelebrities
© Joe Stevens./Retna Ltd./Corbis
Empire Girl Julissa Bermudez Takes Control
Tanisha Love Ramirez
Julissa Bermudez is far from 106 & Park (literally and figuratively). Having put her days as a TV show host on the backburner, these days the 31-year-old Queens-raised Dominicana fills her time with "a little of this and a little of that," from reality TV shows (hello Empire Girls!) and traveling the globe as a brand ambassador for the likes of Hennessy and Steve Madden as well dabbling in other television projects.
We caught up with Julissa during a pit stop in Miami, where she dished on her long-awaited return to television, her plans to build a media empire, and how and she has zero plans on settling for anything less than what she deserves when it comes to work, love or the drank in her cup.
'LL: It's been a while since Empire Girls last aired. What have you been up to since?
Julissa: I've been doing a lot of brand ambassador stuff. I really enjoy associating my name and brand with much bigger brands and bigger names, like…Hennessy. I've also been doing a little bit of acting. There's a cameo that I did for a new show on Bounce TV called Mann and Wife. I played a pop star, which is exciting because whenever I do karaoke, I'm a pop star in my head anyways [laughs]. Like I said, it never stops. I've been dipping and dabbling into a few things, while still having some personal projects of my own that I'm working on.
'LL: What is next for you professionally? Are you coming back to the small screen?
Julissa: Well, watching TV when I was growing up, I never saw my own reflection; I never saw women who looked like me. So I basically took matters into my own hands. I wrote and created my own show that I'm producing and financing myself. I've teamed up with an entertainment company to help me execute it.
'LL: What is the show going to be about?
Julissa: I want it to live in the late night space and have that talk show kind of format. It'll be very candid. I want to be informative and focus on women's issues, but I don't want to preach. I also want it to be racy. I've been in this business since I was 19 and I'm 31 now. I feel my fans are ready to see the more mature me.
106 & ParkDominicanaEmpire GirlsHennessyJulissa BermudezLatinaLLERO
Tanisha Love Ramirez lives and works at the intersection of pop culture and current affairs. Best known for her ability to use breaking lifestyle and entertainment news to frame larger conversations concerning gender, race and social enterprise, Tanisha shares her special brand of "news with a point of view" as a freelance contributor for Cosmo for Latinas, The Huffington Post, AskMen, Jezebel, and New Latina.
Vianessa Castanos
Denise Vasi Shines On
Victor A. Rodriguez