Up-close and personal with the women behind KINDRED.

Kindred Evite

Turn on your television during prime time on any given day and most times you will see the same type of characters in different clothes with a show that basically follows the same pattern. Television for women can be summed up into three or four main characters, the slut, the mom, the smart one and the exotic or wall flower.

Where is the real woman? Where is the sexy and smart woman? How about the driven and vulnerable woman or the plus sized and confident woman? They are out there but they are few and far between.

Kindred is a sexy webisode series that explores the captivating lives of three women and the challenges they face as they deal with personal, professional and romantic issues.

PLUS Model Magazine had the awesome opportunity of getting close and personal with the women behind KINDRED. Hope you enjoy this sneak peak into this enticing webisode.

*Don’t forget to meet us at Slate this Saturday, November 21st at 8pm for the Premier Launch Party of KINDRED hosted by the Original Runway Diva, Sharon Quinn. For more information visit www.kindredseries.com.

Maddy: Jessica, Ella and Maureen can you tell me a little about yourselves?

Maureen Aladin: Well, I’m an actress, writer and producer. Projects that I’ve worked on have been on CNN.com, in particular, the iReport Film Festival for my 2008 presidential election commercial. I’m currently producing a youth sports show (“Inside the Orange Bowl YFA”) on Fox Sun Sports. I have a background in theatre and have also appeared on NYCTV’s ‘They’re So New York.’ I have a BA from Stony Brook University in Political Science and an MS in Computer Science from the New York Institute of Technology. I love being with these ladies of SistaPAC, because we all have our own areas of expertise. I bring the production management and organizational skills to the table for SistaPAC and for Kindred.

Ella Turenne: I consider myself an artist, activist and educator. Currently, I’m a professor and higher education administrator. In 2004 I edited a book of visual art and poetry commemorating the Haitian revolution. My work has been published in various anthologies and I’ve performed in venues across the country as well as on stage and on screen. As a filmmaker, my work has been an official selection of various national film festivals including the Hollywood Black Film Festival and the Montreal International Haitian Film Festival where my short film woodshed was nominated for Best Short Film. I have a BA from Stony Brook University, an MSW from Boston University and am working on an MA in Media Studies from the New School. My next short film, Madden’s Revenge, will be completed in early 2010, as well as a book of poetry on love and relationships. For SistaPAC, and for Kindred, I bring a combination of creative oversight and technical expertise in multimedia and film.

Jessica Nyel Hartley: I’m an actress, writer, director and marketing consultant, and I like to consider myself a jack of all trades. I’m currently an Account Director at a global marketing and technology firm in NYC. As a marketing consultant for small businesses and artists of color, I started my own marketing consulting firm, Viscosity Interactive Media and Entertainment, LLC (VIME – vimellc.com) geared towards helping artists and entrepreneurs of color market their products and services. I have a BA from Purdue University and an MBA with a specialization in Media Management from Metropolitan College of New York. I’m currently working on my second novel, along with my first screenplay and teleplay. My contributions to SistaPAC and Kindred, are of course my interactive and marketing expertise, with a strong understanding of how to target the various audiences for our project.

Maddy: What inspired you to make Kindred?
Ella: As artists, we were frustrated by the lack of opportunities for people of color and women in the entertainment industry. We got tired of hearing no and waiting for the “break” and decided to take matters into our own hands. That’s what inspired SistaPAC. Kindred was inspired by a single photograph taken by our amazing photographer, Larry Lowe. We did a photoshoot for SistaPAC and everyone kept saying, wow, you guys look like you should be on TV. And we thought, well, why don’t we make that happen? So we wrote a pilot for a story about three cousins and their relationships with each other and their mothers. We considered all the gripes we had about mainstream TV – that the real lives of people who were like us were not being portrayed.

Maddy :Can you tell us a little about each character?
Maureen: Although each character has their own distinct personality, the commonality is that they are all trying to be successful in both their professional and personal lives in one of the toughest but most exciting cities in the world, NYC.

Karmella Scott (Karma) is the oldest of the Kindred cousins, and has always been the oddball. Spiritually, artistically and technically inclined, she is the one who is always thinking and speaking outside the box. She loves photography and freelances for different advertising and marketing agencies in the New York City area. She is also beginning to spread her wings as a visual artist, exhibiting her work wherever she can. A curvy sista, she has always had a hard time opening up and expressing her natural beauty and sexuality. She is skeptical of men and rarely lets anyone get close to her, but all of that will soon change.

Collette Robbins is the middle of the three cousins and works as the Chief of Staff for a local Brooklyn politician, Congressman James Parker. She is intelligent, witty, sarcastic and has excessively high standards for everything. Collette is currently not involved in a romantic relationship, although she occasionally dates and is still tied dangerously to an old flame. She lives to be in control, and life for Collette has always gone according to plan, never deviating from the course she has set for herself. Colette’s train is about to run off the tracks, and she’ll face new challenges and hard decisions that will alter her life forever.

Angelina Chambers is youngest of the cousins, and works as an associate marketing director at one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the country. Scaling the corporate ladder quickly just like her mother, she is a diva extraordinaire and cold-blooded when it comes to getting what she wants. Angelina has learned to devote herself to being the best at whatever she puts her mind to. Her constant battle to be perfect has caused her to suppress the wild child within. Angelina will have to hit rock bottom to uncover her true self, and her mother’s approval will be the least of her worries.
Maddy: Without giving the juicy details away, what are some of the challenges that these characters face?
Jessica: Kindred is definitely a no-holds-barred look at issues that all women face. At its core, Kindred reveals how three everyday women tackle love, life, and work, while dealing with daunting, life-changing issues such as sexual harassment, infidelity, drug abuse, deadly diseases, racism, and homosexuality. These are things that all women, and even most men can relate to. The three main characters, Karmella, Collette and Angelina, just trying to make a living and enjoy life against the gritty skyline of New York City. One of the highlights of the series is “Friday Night Cocktails,” which is basically their family’s version of Sunday dinner. It’s the three cousins and their mothers, and is the one place the six of them can come together, get away from all the madness and gain comfort and support. During these gatherings, anything can happen and everyone has an opinion. There are martinis to make, food to eat, gossip to catch up on and lessons to be learned. It’s an exciting, edgy exchange revolving around a lot of provocative topics, told through the lives of ordinary women with sometimes unordinary life circumstances.
Maddy: Television and Movies don’t always depict women in the most favorable light. How important was it for you to have these characters embody real life?
Ella: It was really important. We hear this critique about TV and movies from our friends and fellow artists all the time. In developing the story lines for Kindred, we thought of the things that we have gone through as women and the things people we know have been through. And while we were developing it, we thought, ‘Hey, these stories are FILLED with drama!” We think this is what people talk about when they say they don’t see themselves or their lives reflected on TV and in movies. With Kindred, we wanted to show that Black women do get along. That although life is not without its hardships, families do get through it. We wanted to show some professions that are not usually seen on TV for people of color. We wanted to show that women of all sizes are beautiful. So the characters are really important. They’re flawed, but good at heart. They’re doing the best they can with what they’ve got. And they are able to get through things together. We also recognize that women of color are often exoticized. We wanted to produce something that would be about the story and the characters, not about what Hollywood’s idea of Black women is. We wanted women out there to be able to relate…to say, ‘Hey, I went through that.’ Or, ‘My girlfriend or sister went through that.’ Most stories that resonate do so because they hit home. That’s what we’re aiming for.

Maddy: How long will the Webisode last and where can we tune in?
Jessica: There are three initial webisodes, each approximately 10 minutes long. It might not sound like much, but trust us, there’s a lot of drama that can go down in 10 minutes. Along with that we’ll have lots of additional footage, photos and more, showing the behind-the-scenes action of making Kindred. We will also have a video diary of each character. So…lots of goodies in the next three months! We need the fans to fall in love with it, so that we can keep the webisodes coming. So to tune in, go to: www.KindredSeries.com.

About Editor-in-Chief, Madeline Figueroa-Jones

Madeline hails from a close-knit NYC family and started her plus size modeling career with a spread in BBW magazine. In early 2003 Figueroa was selected to appear as the spokes model for the "Hips, Heels & Curves" Fashion Show, continuing on to casting director for the Dangerous Curves 2003/2004 Tour. After appearing on several television segments including Aqui Y Ahora for Univision she began reaching out to the plus size community by serving as a moderator for VenusDivas.com, Empowerment Editor for AmaZeMagazine.com. Madeline and her husband Luke reside in the Battery Park city area of NY and operate lucaspictures.net.

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