Thursday, June 4, 2009

Islandista It Girl: Vashtie Kola

Who is this Vashtie Kola? That is the question gossip folks and entertainment people have been asking for a while.

 



[caption id="attachment_1056" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Photo credit: Amy Rollo/ Honey Magazine"]Photo credit: Amy Rollo/ Honey Magazine[/caption]

 



Vashtie, like other islandista 'it girls' is one of those chicks that always seems to be on the scene - at all the hottest, edgiest parties, friendsing with the most popular musicians, actors and designers and of course, wearing the cutest outfits.

It would not be quite right  though to say she has that certain je-ne-sais-quoi - after all, it is easy to pinpoint when and how she came to semi-public attention, as she dated rapper/producer Pharrell from 2003 to 2007.

However, even after that relationship faded, she has still managed to stay in the spotlight. Both Honey magazine and Giant magazine are profiling her this month so she must be doing something right.

So... who is Vashtie Kola?

Well to start with, she is an islandista by descent. Of course! Or else, why would we care? lol...

 She was born and raised in Albany, New York to parents who emigrated from Trinidad. Vashtie's wide range of work and races definitely puts the slash in things. As in she is an artist/ video director/ designer/party promoter of black/Indian descent and even though she is considered 'Downtown's Sweetheart' for her connections to all that is cutting edge in New York City club life, she is still so 'Trini to the bone' that she blogs about T&T every chance she gets, including a whole blog post about prowling Brooklyn in search  of roti, aloo pie, phoulourie, coconut bake and doubles!

 



[caption id="attachment_1057" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="ya want plenty pepper or slight pepper?"]ya want plenty pepper or slight pepper?[/caption]

Formerly the Director of Creative Services with Def Jam, her main current hustle right now aside from video directing is her new clothing line Violette, which taps into her tomboyish style, as she explained to Hypebeast.com:

As a girl who dresses boyish, I could never find tees I wanted in my size and I really loved all the boy brands. I had been getting my Supreme tees altered by my tailor so they could fit me. Girl brands just never appealed to me. They say “necessity is the mother of invention” and well, I needed an option.



 Loving it. I love the hustle and creativity of islandistas and how we mix it up and give it back to the world in ways they would never have expected and Va$htie really exemplifies that.

4 comments:

  1. [...] peek: exclusive Vashtie Kola interview! Islandista and multi-talented artist Vashtie Kola granted us an exclusive interview this week and she has a lot to [...]

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  2. Basically its called a socialista. She is just running off of her fame that pharrell gave her. she does a lot of things but doesnt do one of them well. and shes like thirty. fame whore is what you call her

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  3. ^^^LOL...prime example that haters never take a day off.

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  4. Exactly, the woman is doing her thing, spend less time hating and more time doing something with your life and maybe one day you will be as successful. as her

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