Long before she joined the cast of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Celebrity Speaker Kenya Moore was a model and pageant queen; she won the title of Miss Michigan USA in 1993 followed by Miss USA that same year, becoming the first black woman and Detroit native to do so. She went on to compete in the 1993 Miss Universe pageant where she placed sixth overall representing the United States. Kenya joined the Bravo series in its fifth season, and co-stars with Nene Leakes, Phaedra Parks, Kandi Burruss, Cynthia Bailey, and Porsha Williams. Kenya received her degree in psychology from Wayne State University and is also a graduate of Cass Technical High School, a nationally recognized preparatory high school in Detroit that has educated the likes of Diana Ross, Ed Gordon, Lily Tomlin, and David Alan Grier.

Kenya made her film debut in the 1995 movie Waiting to Exhale, playing as Denise in the romantic drama with an all-star cast that included Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, Whitney Houston, and Dennis Haysbert, among others. She has also had roles in other movies such as Deliver Us from Eva in 2003, starring LL Cool J, Gabrielle Union, Meagan Good, and Duane Martin, and the thriller Trapped: Haitian Nights in 2010; Kenya not only acted in the film but stepped in as the producer and director after the movie lost its original director midway through filming. She has also made appearances in the hit television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns. The reality star moved into new territory with the release of her fitness video entitled Kenya’s Booty Boot Camp in 2013. Kenya recently was on the fourteenth season of Donald Trump’s The Celebrity Apprentice, which feature other notable stars and celebrated personalities such as Shawn Johnson, Terrell Owens, Kate Gosselin, Vivica A. Fox, and Johnny Damon. Kenya’s most recent work is with filming, directing, and acting her own show titled “Life Twirls On” which appears on her Youtube channel as of now.