The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks looks gorgeous in her new spread for Rolling Out magazine.
In the mag, she opens about her many jobs, raising her sons, being active in the Black Lives Matter Movement, and more.
Check out a few highlights:
So, you grew up in a lot of
structure. Being in the entertainment world as an attorney and as a
reality star can be a very demanding and even chaotic. How do you make
those two things fit?
I never had any intentions on being an entertainment attorney. I think this was truly my calling. My main goal was always to help someone, and I’ve always been very connected with Black men. When you look at the structure of the entertainment world and its leadership, there are not a lot of people that look like us. When I first got into the industry, that’s what resonated with most of my clients. They were the people that no one wanted. People didn’t understand them. They had issues that the majority of attorneys did not want to deal with. So, I found out what my niche was: helping people who most thought could not be rehabilitated. And I really made it my duty to show that just because someone has an issue doesn’t mean that they can’t be successful.
I never had any intentions on being an entertainment attorney. I think this was truly my calling. My main goal was always to help someone, and I’ve always been very connected with Black men. When you look at the structure of the entertainment world and its leadership, there are not a lot of people that look like us. When I first got into the industry, that’s what resonated with most of my clients. They were the people that no one wanted. People didn’t understand them. They had issues that the majority of attorneys did not want to deal with. So, I found out what my niche was: helping people who most thought could not be rehabilitated. And I really made it my duty to show that just because someone has an issue doesn’t mean that they can’t be successful.
That’s an emotional undertaking.
How do you handle cases when it seems like you want success more than
the person you’re fighting for?
When people see that you believe in them, and that you have their best at heart, sometimes that’s enough to turn that around. A lot of these people get in these positions because they’ve been rejected. But now they’re coming into contact with someone who’s giving them a clean slate. When you speak life into a dead situation, things grow.
When people see that you believe in them, and that you have their best at heart, sometimes that’s enough to turn that around. A lot of these people get in these positions because they’ve been rejected. But now they’re coming into contact with someone who’s giving them a clean slate. When you speak life into a dead situation, things grow.
You’re on a show where you can get pulled into situations and it’s not always about “speaking life.” How do you deal with that?
I’m on a show where they speak death all the time. But the way I have conducted myself has set me apart because I really try to think before I speak. I try not to say things that I can’t come back from. I’m always very careful, and just because you’re thinking something doesn’t mean that you should say it. But there’ve been a lot of times where I wanted to rip somebody’s wig off.
I’m on a show where they speak death all the time. But the way I have conducted myself has set me apart because I really try to think before I speak. I try not to say things that I can’t come back from. I’m always very careful, and just because you’re thinking something doesn’t mean that you should say it. But there’ve been a lot of times where I wanted to rip somebody’s wig off.
On your social media pages, you
share a long list of jobs and responsibilities you undertake. Is the
list long because you’re still evolving as a person and finding out who
Phaedra is?
Everything that I do comes from a place of passion and experience. I’m very multi-faceted, so I’m always thinking about the next frontier. My love for funerals came from experiences with death. It came from a place of pain, and I turned my pain into passion. I saw a lack of people in that business who genuinely wanted to help people and understood the grieving process. It came from some of my best friends committing suicide and getting killed. So, I really saw it as a ministry. I still do funerals for free, and haven’t made a penny off of any funeral I’ve ever done.
Everything that I do comes from a place of passion and experience. I’m very multi-faceted, so I’m always thinking about the next frontier. My love for funerals came from experiences with death. It came from a place of pain, and I turned my pain into passion. I saw a lack of people in that business who genuinely wanted to help people and understood the grieving process. It came from some of my best friends committing suicide and getting killed. So, I really saw it as a ministry. I still do funerals for free, and haven’t made a penny off of any funeral I’ve ever done.
You’ve been speaking
around the country. What is that thing that you’re really able to dig
down and share with people that resonates with them?
In this past year, people have seen how I’ve dealt with my husband
being incarcerated, and I became a single mom in front of the world. But
I think that on the flip side, people saw me as a pregnant woman, going
to school and getting my degree. I had both of my children on the show.
And I was still able to come out of all of that unscathed. People have
seen me at the best and at the worst of times. They’ve seen me in heated
situations where I handled myself respectably. I can speak to the
students because I know what it’s like to stay up all night studying. I
know what it’s like to be pregnant and go to school. I can speak to the
person who is in a marriage with issues; I’ve been that person. I’ve
been in many adverse situations where I’ve succeeded and didn’t
compromise my morals. I think a lot of these things resonate with people
because these are things that we all deal with. Tests build
testimonies. As long as you’re questioning, “God, why am I here?” and
not accepting defeat, that’s when you know you have the option to get
out.
During this age of social
media, common, everyday occurrences are amplified and given great
attention from the public, especially for someone like you. When the
attention turns negative, how do you deal with it?
To be honest, I think if everyone’s agreeing with you, you’re doing
something wrong. If you’re doing something right, that’s when everyone
is criticizing you. Social media has made people so rude. But I really
try not to open myself up to that kind of negativity. I don’t read the
blogs because they are not news. I get my news from people who have been
certified to do so.
In 2013, you published Secrets of a Southern Belle. Are we going to see another book from you?
Absolutely. I am playing with the idea of writing a book about
parenting, and about Black boys. I want to talk about how you prepare a
Black boy for this society that we’re in. I’m active with the Black
Lives Matter movement, because although it’s 2015, the social and racial
climate makes it feel like 1960.
Do you think “Black lives matter” in this country?
No. I don’t. I think Black lives have been devalued by the United
States merely because of legislation and acts of people in power that
say, especially to our Black boys, that they don’t matter. I see it all
too often. I think that, socioeconomically, people that sit in my tax
bracket are not putting money back into our community. This year, I
participated in Bloody Sunday’s 50th anniversary, and I could count the
number of celebrities on one hand. I saw more politicians than people
who influence the culture. They haven’t taken their platform to really
use it in a way that is influential in our community.
You can read the rest of her interview and check out more photos here. We can’t wait to see more of Phaedra this upcoming season of Bravo’s ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’.
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