By Benè Viera
As Love & Hip Hop ended its second season, I thought about the future of the ladies who are enjoying the spotlight…right now anyway. With the exception of Olivia and Emily B, most viewers hadn’t heard of any of these women prior to their debut as the girlfriends, ex-girlfriends and baby’s mothers of hip-hop artists. While Yandy and Emily B. will continue their work within the industry as a manager and a celebrity stylist respectively, Erica Mena is another story. Her “modeling” career will likely last as long as her 15 minutes.
Reality TV changed the proverbial game for not only television, but also fame. The most popular reality stars are household names. The greater the popularity, the more opportunities there are to increase their bank accounts. There is no better example of a reality star turned mogul than Bethenny Frankel, who was cast in The Real Housewives of New York in 2008. During her three seasons as a Housewife Frankel plugged her own struggling business, created the Skinnygirl Margarita and landed her own spin-off, Bethenny Ever After. Frankel’s business savvy earned her the number three spot on the Forbes top women in entertainment list with an earning of $55 million. According to Forbes, Frankel sold her Skinnygirl Margarita mix to Fortune Brands for nearly $100 million. Talk about reality star hustling.