Baller Alert’s Exclusive Interview With Bad Girls Club Jelaminah “Jela” Lanieris

Just when you thought the era of Bad Girls Club was over, Oxygen brought the hit show back for a 14^th season. Some of you may recognize Jelaminah “Jela” Lanieris from her modeling and appearances in music videos. Originally from Atlanta, the 25 year old has lived in Houston for the past 8 years and attended college at Texas Southern University. Baller Alert sat down for an exclusive interview with Jela as she disses about being fired from her job in corporate America, her decision to join Bad Girls club, and more.

There’s a trend with young women going into reality television. What made you decide to join Bad Girls Club?

Well honestly when I auditioned for Bad Girls Club it was just something to do. I’m not gonna say I didn’t expect them to pick me because I did but my goal was never to do Bad Girls Club. I had been working in corporate America for the phone company for 2 ½ years and I filed sexual harassment against one of my coworkers and they fired me. When I got fired I decided to go back to school and I thought you know I really want to be in the entertainment industry so let me go back to school and really focus on my career. Then a few months later the auditions came around and everyone kept telling me about and I should do it. I didn’t even tell anyone I was gonna do it, I just woke up the morning of (cause I set a reminder on my phone) and got dressed and went to audition. I figured if I made it then I’d tell everyone.

So of course, everyone knows the “stigma” that comes along with the Bad Girls Club and the type of girls that are on the show but aside from that, what do you hopes fans will learn about you this season?

Um, I want them to really see me as a smart, intelligent individual because that’s who I am and I want them to see that not every Bad Girl is a drunk crazy girl or not every bad girl is a violent crazy person either. You know everybody has their own identity and I just want people to see that before any of the rage or any of the craziness that I actually talented and I’m actually a cool person and I’m funny, nice and I’m cool and easy to get along with. I want them to see the more humane side.

I’m pretty much an open book. I like to tell my fans if they really want to get to know me follow me on Snapchat because that’s my everyday life. I’m a tomboy at heart so you can see me without my hair done and makeup on and I want them to see me how I really am.

In any situation when you mix different women in one household situation will arise. Were there any cast members you felt connected with?

Initially I gravitated towards Shannade and Shannon. Shannon was the first girl that I met and we instantly hit it off and then I met Shannade shortly after but I gravitated towards them and I just stuck to what I knew.

*Side note* Jela is one of the original girls replaced

What made you wear all white?

Well, um, ok first I got the idea from Lisa Raye; she’s the only person I’ve known to wear all white but for me it was like I live in Houston, Texas and if you know anything about Houston our strippers are like celebrities and when you’re a beautiful girl and I mean all of the girls are beautiful in Houston. So You have to do something to put yourself aside or outside of everyone else and I didn’t want to do anything scandalous to like ruin my reputation or make me look too bad but I still wanted people to know who I was when I popped out on the scene so I’ve always dressed nice and I was like let me take it a step further and I always looked really cute whenever I wore white. So I started only wearing white only when I went out and whenever people would see me outside the club scene or my regular life or regular activities oh you not wearing white. Then my sister started talking to me like if you going to wear all white then you better start doing it all the way.

What are you plans post Bad Girls Club?

I plan in the future to start a clothing line, I’m working on a clothing line now and my hope is to launch it right around the time the show airs so that my fans can actually have merchandise and have things like tangible items as the show airs. So that’s my plans and what I’m working on right now. I’m tall you know and I’ve done modeling already but I want to continue to model and do more commercialized modeling and model on a larger scale. Of course I want to get into acting as well.

Would you ever consider doing another reality show?

I would do another reality show. I actually want my own show so I’m always down for it as long as it’s something that’s going to build me up and build my career in a positive light. Definitely not looking for love….. Laughs

Check out Jela and the rest of the cast on Oxygen’s Bad Girls Club Season 14.