*Photo: Courtesy of BET
Don’t let the gorgeous face fool you—Eva Marcille is one of the hardest working women in Hollywood.
From modeling gigs to acting roles, the glamourous go-getter knows a thing or two about surviving in showbiz and with her new BET docuseries About The Business, we get an inside look at her life behind the cameras.
About The Business is a one hour docuseries following a group of tight-knit Hollywood professionals who are on their grind to make it in the high-stakes world of entertainment while balancing their career and family life. With Eva as the epicenter of the show, the cast includes Crystal Renay (model, wife of singer Ne-Yo), EJ King (celebrity stylist), Sparkle Holmes (events entrepreneur) and Danielle Crawley (model casting agent).
While Eva shows no signs of slowing down, she knows the longevity of the entertainment business is not guaranteed. In efforts to diversify her portfolio, Eva is investing in a luxury container home business with the ultimate goal of building a container home community empire.
On the show, viewers will see Eva navigate the challenges of taking on a new business venture while working with family and friends, along with juggling new and old flames in her dating life.
Eva talks to JET about her evolving career and the importance of staying true to yourself through it all.
JET: Can you describe the premise of About The Business and what you hope viewers gain from the series?
Eva Marcille: I’m super excited about this show! It was something that I definitely thought long and hard about before doing because it isn’t one of those shows where you just get a group of people together who look good and do a TV show. This is a show with my real friends, with relationships that I cultivated. If I decided today to check out of this business to make pizzas for a living, these would be my friends that I would have with me at my pizza place.
It was very important for me going into this that [my friends] understood the severity of this situation, and to be as transparent and real with each other as we can. But by the same token, I think the young people who watch reality TV everyday deserve to see more of a realistic idea and a view of who we are as people. You see the glitz and the glamour and that’s nice, but that’s not all of who we are. I would like them to understand that we go through the same issues they go through and friendships mean the same things they mean to you. Trials and tribulations hurt us the same way they hurt you. [About The Business] is a true inside look at what our lives really are and not the magazine cover.
JET: What has guided your career trajectory?
Eva Marcille: My career path was something I didn’t try to guide myself. I think it was something that was destined, God chose it for me. If it were up to me, I think I would be doing something different. I just take every day at a time. I started off doing a reality show about modeling, and the crazy thing is I never aspired to be a model and there I was. I had a daughter at thirty and I never thought I would be a mom and here I am—I’m a mom and I love every minute of it. A lot of times in life we can plan all we want to, but what God has in store for us, there’s no amount of planning that can touch that.
JET: Now, you’re tapping into a new direction that we’ll get to see more of during the show. What sparked your interest in investing in the container home business?
Eva Marcille: Well, no matter who you are or where you are, you need somewhere to live. When you think about mortgages and home loans, they’re basically what help our economy boom. The way I look at it now being a mother, I need a home for myself and I would like to leave homes for my children. What better way to build luxury homes, but also help the homeless plight in America at the same time?
So what I did was start the business with my mother, my brother and a couple of friends of mine, and we used a multi-faceted business model. The idea is that whether you live in a high rise or on Skid Row, we’re all one. We have 17,000 homeless people in downtown Los Angeles right now and that’s absolutely insane and it makes no sense. I’m really trying to help with that issue. There are initiatives that try to help feed the homeless, but the problem is that they have nowhere to live. They have nowhere to live after you feed them and give them their programs during the day. At nighttime, they’re back in the street. So what we’re doing is building renewable homes out of shipping containers where after these people graduate from a program and while they are getting their lives back on track, they have somewhere to stay.
JET: On the show, viewers will also get a glimpse of your love life. As a career-focused woman, how important is it to you to make time for dating?
Eva Marcille: It’s a little important now because I have a great guy. For me, my number one focus is my daughter and my number two focus is my career. So if I have any more time for a love life, that’s great. If I don’t, then I don’t. I’m really fortunate that I’m at a place where I’m emotionally available to date. I have a really great guy who is really busy—he’s in politics, but it works out. It’s a long distance relationship, so it’s not something where I have to wake up every day and take care of the man, the baby and the career. It’s just me and my daughter for right now, and I have a love across the pond.
JET: How do you stay true to yourself in Hollywood?
Eva Marcille: I work with my family so they don’t allow me to stay true to anything else! To whom much is given, much is required. That’s something that I live by. I know that I’m extremely blessed, and by the grace of God I could be any other woman in a horrible situation, but God chose for me to be where I am. I don’t take that for granted and I use that as an opportunity to help other people and their situation.
Watch the premiere of About The Business on BET February 24 at 10/9c.
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