shots by: Christopher “BlackIce” Bell
interview by: Corey “C*” Jackson
What is it about women from Louisiana that makes me feel at ease? To date, this was the most comfortable in conversation I’ve been during an interview. For me personally, I think my infatuation with lovely ladies from the boot state started with Popeye’s chicken. The way lady chef’s golden chicken, crispy scrimps, and buttery biscuits leaves me with greasy lips is just something I can’t resist! Then there is Ali Landry, whose career took off after winning the Miss Louisiana Pageant in 1990 and a subsequent Miss USA title in 1996. After seeing her on the Doritos super bowl commercials and Eve’s show, ever since then, I was sure I was destined to wed a southern belle of Cajun decent.
Last but certainly not least is Ms. Antonia “Toya” Carter; whose New Orleans accent accents everything the terms humble and hardworking define in this day and age. She is a multi-tasking triple threat with a triangle offense of television, fashion, and philanthropic leadership. Blessed with the charm and allure the Big Easy is known for, Ms. Carter shows that she can exist outside of Lil Wayne’s shadow and still hold the strings of her family together in her forthcoming show “Toya: A Family Affair”. Despite the irony of her birthplace; it isn’t easy playing seamstress. Having already come from a challenging childhood is hard enough. Add that struggle to a mother struggling with drug addiction, a brother recently released from prison, and a plethora of other perils unintended from street living and you’ve got a reality show that could easily be as destructive as it is revealing. But it isn’t.
What ends up being depicted is fellowship through family documented as inspiration for living. In every situation life brings we are always given a choice. We can make something happen or we can react to what’s happening. We can watch something fall apart or we can share what’s in our heart to mend it. And we can choose to scold the same person forever or we could just as easily choose to forgive them. Some of the worst things that happen in life aren’t GOD caused, but they’re always faith filtered. Thus our brothers and sisters serve as our outer extensions. If we don’t see them in a better light who else will? Society would rather focus on the one misfortune of the wheel rather than an entire lifetime of peddling. Toya’s show shows that the key to leading someone to the light is to lead by shining example. She won me over after I heard that her personal motto is “Nothing beats failure like a try.” She uses past experiences to pave the path of her own future, which therefore affects others she touches by association, and her resolve to restore order to her family can simply be summed up with one word. LOVE.
C*: Today we are here with Toya for entertainmentreporters .com and you have a new show coming out this month. How do you feel about it?
Toya: I’m excited. I’m very excited.
C*: I know your last show was number one on BET for two seasons running with 3 million viewers! What can viewers expect from this new show?
Toya: I would say it’s a whole lot deeper as far as my storyline goes. I’m bringing on my family of course. I have my brothers, my mom, my dad, and this is the first time that we’re all coming together as a family. I went back to New Orleans for the summer to go be with my family. There was a lot going on with the whole process of trying to get everybody on the right page and letting all of those old emotions that were built up inside between all of us out, and we’re sharing it with the world.
C*: So how is it for you trying to keep the family cohesively together? Is there anything ……how can I best put it….when it gets real stressful what do you do? Do you have a zone you go in? Do you go get a massage or hit the spa or something?
Toya: Memphitz came down; which is my fiancé. He came down for the summer with me as well, so when I wasn’t with the family I would be with him. Or I was with my friend Danielle, and I would go just do girl stuff, and just chill and get away. Rasheeda even flew down, and I played around in the studio with her and did a song just to take my mind off of what was going on with me and my family.
C*: Okay. So can you elaborate on that experience as far as actually being in the show and being able to produce it?
Toya: Well as far as the executive producer goes; James Dubose is the producer of the show. We kinda work with him. I’ll tell him this is something I would like to do with my family or whatever and he works around what’s already going on. But this season it just went! Hahaahaa!
C*: Yeah I saw a few of the clips!
Toya: It just went! I had something in mind, but it just took off its own way!
C*: Yeah I gotta salute you on that because there’s a lot of reality show out there that, you know, you can kinda see through it and tell maybe some of this is scripted, but y’alls is the real…..
Toya: And then with the show sometimes you just give your storyline that you wanna hit. You know what I’m saying? Like this season I wanna talk about this and we’ll do just the start. We’ll do just the start to get it going and then it kinda takes off anyway in whatever way it goes. In my show I had something in mind that James and I talked about that I didn’t mind sharing with the world. Like something just real positive and it kinda took off, but it still ended up being a very positive show.
C*: Yes, you started that non-profit organization….
Toya:” Visual Beauty”
C*: I salute you for that. Can you explain the goal of that?
Toya: The goal with Visual Beauty is to really give back to kids that are in situations like I was in. Coming up just looking for a place to belong…dealing with the drugs…you know, just finding themselves really. Like me and my whole situation. I started out with my mom on drugs and my dad not being there so that put me into someone else’s arms. Then from there I went to someone else’s arms. And through all these different things I was going through emotions built inside. I completely lost who Toya was. And then I found Wayne and had my daughter and she was my everything. And I still didn’t find myself. Throughout all of that the most important thing is to find yourself and love yourself before trying to give your everything to someone else. You have to be comfortable with yourself and love yourself.
C*: Well I hope you put that in the show because not many people see Toya the philanthropist. You know what I’m saying? Everyone puts celebrities on a pedestal and they only want to see you fall. If you fall then the criticism is all there, but your human just like anybody else.
Toya: Right.
C*: Okay, “The Garb”. Can you tell me about your boutique? What type of articles of clothing do you sell in there?
Toya: I sell women clothing. I sell accessories and bags. I also have this section in my closet that features things that I wore to award shows. I might have this bag I put aside if I get tired of it. Some of my clothes I may donate to a shelter. The more expensive things I’ll put in my closet and sell it for a low price and they love it. People that have always wanted to buy a Gucci or Louis Vuitton bag may not be able to afford them and they get a real bag for a real low price. Just something nice.
C*: And speaking of your daughter, I saw a documentary where she was rapping and I’m talking killing it for like 3 minutes! So since you’ve been in the industry and you know the ups and downs of being famous, if she were to pursue a career in rap would you be supportive of that?
Toya: Very supportive. Right now, she’s no longer with the OMG Girlz anymore, but she was a rapper in the group. Now she’s working with her father. They’re doing a group together, her and a friend of hers LoLo, who was also in the OMG Girlz. Wayne had them in the studio recording with them before the tour started. They have four songs they already did, and they’re going to be working on more stuff once he’s done with the tour. You know I’m very excited because it’s something she wants. She’s doing great in school and she’s doing good in artist development. And she kills all the songs that they do in the studio. You know it’s like that’s her passion. That’s what she loves so of course I’m going to be 100% supportive of it.
C*: Okay. Well this is my last question. It’s fill in the blank so it goes like this. As a testament to how far you’ve come and where you’ve come from; when you come home at night and you lay your head down on the inside you feel _________? How do you feel?
Toya: I feel good. And I thank GOD. You know? Because of GOD I got this far by praying and when I come home at night and I look back to where I’ve come from and I see where I’m at now I feel blessed. Very blessed.
C*: And the second half of that question is when you walk out the front door now and observe what you see on the outside you feel ________?
Toya: It also makes me feel blessed. It makes me feel like I’m doing something. A lot of the things I have now I got on my own so it makes me feel independent. It makes me feel like I’m coming out of someone’s shadow into my own. It makes me feel really good. I can breathe. I don’t have to worry about everyone else’s opinion. I’m creating my own identity so when I step outside people can say “That’s Toya.”
{C*}
