Paula chuckled and answered, “TaShay.”

“Yeah, TaShay,” I repeated. “She makes you want to talk to her.”

“I taught her that,” Paula informed me. “I taught her that I don’t want her to be unapproachable. Being unapproachable doesn’t mean anything when you can’t get any jobs. So I taught her how to invade a person’s space just enough to where you force them to acknowledge you. Then you make your statement and move on. You don’t want to be a nag, but you do want them to remember you.”

I sat there and was stunned. The girl had just practiced what her aunt had preached. And it worked on me.

While Paula began to wipe off my face with a moist cleansing pad, I asked her, “Does she have a boyfriend? And I’m not asking for me, I’m just seeing how you’re planning to deal with the other guys,” I explained with a laugh.

Paula answered, “I already told her, ‘Your boyfriend is your face, your health, your mind, and your body, so make sure you learn to love you before you love anyone else.’ ”

She had the right approach. I laughed and said, “Yeah, because if she’s gonna invade people’s space like that, they’re gonna want to invade her space right back.”

“Don’t I know it. So I told her that she has to be extremely head-strong about what she’s doing and why she’s there.”

Sounded like a plan to me. And before I knew it, TaShay was getting most of the attention from the camera crew. They had three different camera guys set up to snap pictures from different angles and on different film. One guy shot in black and white, another guy shot wide color angles, and the last guy shot close-ups and reaction shots.

There were ten models and two makeup artists representing all shades and nationalities from Asia to Africa, Europe to South America. We took our individual shots and a few shots all together in various pieces of white. But when it was TaShay’s turn for her solo pictures, we all stood around and watched. I guess it had a lot to do with how well she worked the cameras and how the white outfit contrasted with her brown skin. I looked good in my contrast as well, but a young woman in white is a young woman in white. She drew more attention.

I leaned into Paula in the background. “Looks like you got a winner on your hands,” I told her.

She smiled and said, “We were actually looking forward to meeting you last night.”

“Yeah, I just didn’t make it out,” I told her. “I got lazy in my room.”

“Oh, I know how that is, believe me. But you should have seen the attention TaShay got last night. She just took the place over.”

I could imagine it. When white folks jump for you, they jump for real. Paula was starting her niece off in the right crowd.

EVERYONE WAS FINISHED with the photo shoot by close to seven that night. We had a group dinner to attend with our sponsors at nine at the Bennigan’s restaurant that was near our hotel. Many of the models and sponsors had already met the night before, so I was one of the few new faces at dinner that night. We were all dressed casually in our own favorite colors.