B&B: So, do you have a strong support system?
KL: My cousin’s on the east coast support me. My mother supports me, as long as it doesn’t go over the board. She’s from Compton and she’s as gangster as it can get. My father doesn’t really know about the whole modeling business. I’ve been acting and all that. But he doesn’t know that I have been doing a lot with modeling. He’ll just say be careful. He’s a musician. I pray a lot. God is my support system. My girls keep me grounded because we’re going through the same thing. We share with each other our secrets, our pain and all that. I stay focused and one of the hardest things to do is to control my temper. You’re dealing with people who are in a position of power and they’ll use that to their advantage. You have to be professional, because you don’t know who is connected to whom.

B&B: Well, in a male driven business, how does that quote apply to the business?
KL: You deny advances; you don’t sell yourself as being naïve. You have to set standards. If it’s not what I want, then I’ll be professional enough to say that this is not what I want. I am very charismatic. I can hold a conversation with anyone. If it comes down to something that I don’t agree with, then it doesn’t go down. But I have a mean face [laughs], so people already know what the deal is when they first approach me.

B&B: We know that more and more women are trying to be involved in this business, but why not capitalize on it through a reality show?
KL: I’m SAG [Screen Actors Guild] member, so for me when the writer’s were on strike, there was nothing on TV but reality TV. For SAG members, there’s no pay upfront and it’s not really something that one would go for, as far as establishing a career and all that. You know how Omarosa got to be a “celebrity”…? She’s a name now through the reality TV circuit and if she has more of a career, then that’ll be what she’s known for. A lot of the serious actors would not touch it. I know I couldn’t be on a reality TV show! The first time someone gets in my face, I would be off the show. I don’t play that. You will respect me. If I had just wanted exposure and didn’t care about the craft, I would’ve tried out for College Hill or The Real World. But with that one, I’m mature in my ways, so that whole cackling and acting like a little kid doesn’t work for me. It’s the same with me in the real world, literally… I’m a very detailed oriented person. I wouldn’t even talk to a guy if he had dirty nails. I’d look and say, “Holla.”

B&B: [Laughs] It’d be a show kind of like Survivor, but judged by cats within the game like Sean Malcolm, Marcus Blassingame and Melyssa Ford. But you probably don’t think that you’d be voted off, huh?
KL: Yeah, I’d do something like that with a purpose. I’m not mad at those in the magazine game. I support anyone of any ethnicity who is trying to step up and do what they’re trying to do. What I want to do may not be what they want, so it may be just me in the end, but if it’s something with a purpose then I’m down. It has to be tasteful, not crazy, a competition is so steep. Any casting you have 100-200 girls there, trying to make that easy money. I hold a regular job in addition to this and Hollywood won’t stop just because you have a 9-to-5. I work at night; I grind, go to school and go to auditions when I can.

B&B: Speaking of voting, have you had the chance to vote for our next president?
KL: No, I haven’t… Politics isn’t something that I really like to discuss.

B&B: What changes would you hope be made in the country?
KL: The very first thing I’d like to see is all of the troops overseas to come back home. The country is in debt, right now and it’s hard for people to survive. Gas is almost $4 a gallon. I pray that everything will be alright, but the gears need to shift. People need jobs and healthcare, people need to get a decent healthcare. There has to be a backup plan for people. What people should know about me is that I am very approachable. The first thing that they think is that I’m not approachable. I’m the coolest person that you’ve ever seen. I am a motivational and inspirational person. I will chop it up with anyone who wants to chop it up with me. I want people to follow their dreams, but I want them to live because it is hard out here. If I could change the world and make it a better place, I would, but I know that it’s a struggle. I’m Portuguese and Creole and I lost a lot of people during Hurricane Katrina and it hurt my heart. They called them refugees and they have nothing. It hurt my heart. My heart goes out to those who lost everything during 9/11. In the end, really… things are just getting harder for us; they’re not getting any easier.