Love & Hip hop Hollywoods Donatella Valentina
It’s not easy to break into the entertainment industry whether it’s in the UK or the USA, So when we came across a mogul minded businesswoman with a solid track record for securing the bag, innovating the game and looking good while doing it – we had to find out her secret sauce.
We had the pleasure of interviewing international businesswoman and Love & Hip Hop Hollywood star, Donatella Valentina. The beauty speaks about her early years in the UK, starting her own company ‘Connect The Dots Intl’ moving to the USA & how she landed a spot on the popular reality tv show Love & Hip Hop Hollywood.
Mogul Magazine
How did you first get into presenting?
Donatella
I started in 2008; I made a Youtube channel when Youtube was new. It wasn’t the platform it is now. I was really into UK music, and I didn’t understand why there weren’t any interviews with people listening to music-wise. I decided to start interviewing people; I reached out to their teams and set up my first couple of interviews. After I did my second interview, Grime Daily posted one of my interviews; I emailed them to say thank you, they were about three weeks old at the time.
GRM Daily was called Grime Daily – I don’t know if you remember it being called that? I’m going back like 11 years. I put out an ad’ looking for camera people I saw that grime daily was filming their content, but they didn’t have a presenter, and they weren’t doing any interviews. I asked them if they wanted to team up, I was like “why don’t I just work with you guys, let’s make some stuff happen”. So that’s where everything started, in the beginning, it was there.
Mogul Magazine
Wow, today GRM daily is one of the biggest platforms in the UK, and you were right there. You were the person that was working with them in their earliest days—looking at where you are today and where GRM daily is its very impressive. It goes to show when you got vision you can go far.
Donatella
Well at the time when I was doing it some people thought I was mad, even some friends were like why are you wasting your time with this. We were doing interviews in car parks and random empty warehouses that had no heating, they were freezing. We didn’t have any money or budget, but I believed in the music and the UK scene.
How the Flava opportunity came about was pretty early on. Grime Daily got a tv show. I kind of pitched the idea to Flava because our interviews got popular online. We did the first interviews with people like Giggs and, Skepta – like all the people from the scene, the first time anyone heard them talk was like when we sat down with them. Unfortunately, grime daily had their youtube deleted, so all of those interviews and everything we created back then are no longer online.
So I guess that is why many people don’t know where Donatella was from. You only really know it if you’re a little bit older and were around during those times.
Mogul Magazine
No one did what you’ve done before, and you had a clear vision. Did you face any challenges or were people ready to open the doors and welcome a new aspect of the UK scene in terms of interviews? Hearing that you pitched the idea to Flava, it’s safe to say you were influential in opening doors to bigger audiences for urban creatives. You were one of the first people to start interviewing people.
Donatella
Yeah, the story is pretty deep. A lot of stuff went down; there were many years of work. I reached a point in the UK where I was like hmmm, I’ve done all of these things that were on my goals list, I wanted to get a show about grime on TV, and I wanted to achieve certain things. I started MTV The Wrap-Up with the now editor of Complex Joseph Jp Patterson and Akhil. We started that back in the day, that was my next job after I finished working with Grime Daily. Seeing what GRM Daily is doing now is inspiring like we did all of this work back then. To see what it now makes me feel proud. I feel like a grandma on the scene. There are people in the scene who don’t know the work we did in the beginning. Starting all this stuff and now they have these great platforms, it was tough to get it all out there back then.
Mogul Magazine
It’s incredible to hear your story, you were needed, and I’m glad we had you in the UK because you put many wheels in motion. I’m only just starting to put my face on camera and interview people, and for me, it’s all quite scary, but you’ve been doing it for years. Seeing where you are today is just inspirational, and it has to be respected. You are on Love and Hip Hop, you are continually networking with artists you’ve got your own successful business, to me, you are the perfect example of living the dream. I imagine you still have a long list of goals, but we can only be proud of the steps you’ve made from the outside looking in.
Donatella
Thank you! I appreciate that because sometimes I can be hard on myself. I’m always working on the next project or trying to achieve the next thing, so it feels good to be appreciated. You’ve made me stop and look back for a second.
Mogul Magazine
Did you always want to live in the USA?
Donatella
No, I didn’t always want to live in the US, but I was still interested in the US regarding what they bring to the entertainment industry. America has always been the mecca of entertainment; I knew at some point in my career to achieve the highest level in that field, I would have to go out there and make it happen.
Mogul Magazine
It would be good if you one day did a documentary about your life so people can see where you’ve come from and the bricks that you’ve laid in the UK scene. You may not be an artist, but you are an influencer, and you’ve paid your dues. Many people are following in your footsteps and hoping to get to where you are today.
Donatella
When I left things weren’t the way they are now. I left in 2013, and the scene is still growing a lot, in these last seven years since I’ve been gone. Back then, there weren’t many opportunities to take things further, and I knew I needed to take this thing that is now growing legs and take this and bridge this gap with America. I wanted to see how I can take the same blueprint that I created in the UK and bring it over there. It’s a little easier once you’ve done it before because you make most of your mistakes the first time around. By the time I got to America, I was ready.
I wanted to go to America when I was a lot younger. From the age of 23, I had ideas to go over there; there were auditions I wanted to go to. I’m glad I didn’t because luckily I made all of my business mistakes and many errors I didn’t know about the industry back at home. By the time I got to America, I could follow the things I had got right. So yeah it’s been good, and America is interested in what we’ve got going on.
Mogul Magazine
Can you tell us about your company Connect The Dots Intl?
Donatella
While I was out in America, I was doing many middle man/woman stuff, getting a lot of American artists featured on British artists’ tracks, or setting up shows for British artists out in America. I didn’t have a business to represent me being that person who was connecting dots. I built up a good database of industry people when I’ve been in the entertainment business, once you have enough of those contacts, you can start putting people together and making things happen. That’s how Connect The Dots was born.
Mogul Magazine
What do you love the most about your job?
Donatella
I love the most about my job because every day is different and I get to work with a lot of amazing people. I get to stay inspired by the things that inspire me, always making things happen through my business and contacts. That is my favourite thing because after all the years of putting in so much work now it seems easy. It’s just literally connecting the dots. There are new dots to connect every day; it’s just fun.
Mogul Magazine
What would you say is the best career decision you ever made? Any secrets behind getting to where you are now?
Donatella
That’s a difficult one, but I think it is believing in myself. It would help if you had a strong belief in what you are doing even when you have many people doubting you. I had the same thing when I was moving to America; I was told its not the same as London, it’s big out there, you get chewed up and spat out over there, you’re not going to make anything happen, a million other people are trying to do what you are doing. You can’t listen to anyone else you have to be your biggest supporter, your biggest critic, your biggest fan, and your biggest motivator. No one else is going to do it for you. It has to all come from you.
Mogul Magazine
As a beautiful, powerful female entrepreneur, what is your greatest strength?
Donatella
I think it is my resilience because I’ve experienced many things that would have stopped many people from moving forward. I’ve learned when you keep going; it’s just on the other side. When your about to give up, that’s when you get it.
Sometimes it’s like when you are actually about to break, I’ve been in that position. There were times when I was like f*ck this sh*t I need to go home. I’ve been on my knees like “I can’t do this, I can’t take this”, and you push through – there’s always something good on the other side.
Mogul Magazine
What do you love the most about living in the US?
Donatella
Now I’m trying to be half and half between living in the US and UK. I got a couple of projects that I’m working on where I would need to be in the UK a little bit more. I love America and the freedom; people are a little bit more supportive of your dreams here, they are like yeah go for it. Its a very inspiring place to be, but I still need that fix of home to keep me grounded. The UK is always home, so although I’m based in the US. I’m always working on my next mission. I don’t think I will stay in one place for too long.
Mogul Magazine
What advice would you give to aspiring presenters or entrepreneurs?
Donatella
You don’t need money to get started; you just need to get started. Write a list down of the basic things you believe you will need to get your plans started. That’s what I did; I said “ok, what do I need to do?”.
There are many resources now, even online, you can find the tools to help you. People that want to exchange services or do services for really cheap. If you don’t know how to edit videos, there are tutorials on how to do it online. You don’t necessarily need a network; the internet is a massive platform now you can practically reach everyone. Just start, pick your lane and go for it – you will get better and better. You mentioned you are nervous on camera; I was nervous in the beginning. Even when I started Love & Hip Hop, it was so out of my comfort zone. I was used to going on camera and doing an interview knowing what I’m saying but being on camera in a different aspect, where I’m moving around, and other things are happening along with lots of drama, I was like this is not what I’m used to.
The more you do anything, the easier it gets. Now I can interview people with no questions; I don’t have to write any questions I can freestyle a whole interview because I’ve done it so often, and I feel comfortable with it.
Get started, practice a lot, and build your fanbase, all the tools are there online, use them. It’s a great time for people to aspire to get creative and do those things.
Mogul Magazine
Who is your inspiration?
Donatella
My inspiration has always been Oprah; she was a massive driving force. I was like, wow! She’s multifaceted as well, she was like yeah’ I can be in movies I’m going to have my shows, and I’m going to be a great person while doing it. I’m not sure about some of her recent decisions but leading up to and throughout my career, she is someone who I always looked up to and aspired to be like.
Mogul Magazine
How did you land a spot on Love & Hip Hop?
Donatella
I was doing much work behind the scenes, a lot of middle man stuff. Making a lot of silent moves that people did not know was me. I was making songs happen, making things happen, and signing artists. One of my mentors that I was working with helped me understand how the American entertainment industry works out here. He kept on saying to me that I should do TV out here. I had an opportunity, in the beginning, I could have worked for Revolt TV, but I couldn’t take the job because I had to sort out my paperwork. So in the years when I was sorting all of that out, I was doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff. The same person who suggested I need to be on TV said they believed I should meet Mona Scott-Young. He said, “I believe she would like you; you’ve got so many ideas,”.
Whenever I sit down with people, I’m always telling them about the big grand ideas I’ve got. I’m always telling them about the UK scene and what we’ve got going on. When I went to meet Mona, things weren’t so great for me, I was still sorting out my paperwork, and living deal to deal, LA is a bit of a jungle.
Then I met Mona, and she was like “I love you, I love everything about you. I love your story, and your journey and your vision and I want to put you on the show, which one do you want to be on?”.
I said to her, uh!!! I don’t know; I probably want to stay in LA. Then she said “fine; my team will email you”.
It wasn’t that simple. I had to go through loads of different meetings with loads of other people at different stages. Eventually, you have to meet all the people from VH1, and then you have to meet Viacom’s people. You have to meet a lot of different people, its not a simple process. I thought “the manager said yes to me, so it’s on” and it was, but I still had to get the approval of a few others first. The next thing you know, I was on Love & Hip Hop Hollywood.
Mogul Magazine
What is the filming process like for you, was it fun?
Donatella
For me, it was a little bit challenging because of the aspects; I’m very conscious of certain things. I’m still very English; I’m not going to get down in certain ways. I can tell you things are not scripted, people are not told to say certain things – situations are set up, but people react the way they would react. I can’t let myself act out of character just because I’m on a big show. It’s crazy, but it is fun. I feel that being British is not as wild and out there with the drama, many people on the show are the same on and off camera. It’s just a bit more of an intense version on camera, but people are just the way they are, and I guess that is why the show makes good viewing. I’m happy to be the weird English one. I’m here for it all.
Mogul Magazine
How would you like to be remembered?
Donatella
As somebody who was always doing things for the greater good, I always have the best intentions with everything that I’m doing. Even though I was making boss moves, I was never f*cking anyone one over to do them. It may have taken me longer to get to where I’m going, but I did it the right way.
The key to success is to keep your heart pure; your intentions pure always do the right thing. Live by the right moral code; people will never be able to take it away from you. People have tried to do cruel stuff to me or block me, even in LA. Sometimes people don’t like people being strong and sure, especially women and they will do all kinds of things to stop that but keep your heart pure and things will always work out for you.
Mogul Magazine
What do you do in your spare time?
Donatella
I like to be in nature and go to the gym. I recently started doing Yoga and Pilates. I’m quite boring; I’m not very rock and roll. I’m not very Hollywood.
Mogul Magazine
Do you have a celebrity crush?
Donatella
Ummm the fact that I can’t think of one means no, definitely no.
Mogul Magazine
Do you ever get used to being a celebrity?
Donatella
I don’t think I am one at all and I get awkward when people come up to me. So no I’m not sure how that happened, no I’m not used to it.
Mogul Magazine
What is your favourite dish?
Donatella
I love Chinese food from London; you can’t get the same in America.
Mogul Magazine
What is Your fave holiday destination?
Donatella
Anywhere in the Caribbean, white sand and blue seas, anywhere warm is good for me.
Mogul Magazine
If you can pick a song that described your personality, what would it be?
Donatella
“Don’t Worry Be Happy” – whenever I’m kind of stressed out my mum used to always sing it to me as a kid, so whenever I’m stressed out I’m just like “don’t worry, be happy”. And that’s the biggest thing because worry is such a lie, we spend so much time worrying about something today that doesn’t matter tomorrow.
Mogul Magazine
Any last words?
Donatella
To anyone who follows me and my journey, Thank you. I hope I can inspire you to believe in yourself because that is ultimately what it takes. Anything you set your mind to you can do it, no matter how big or small your goals are, just make a start.
Follow Donatella Online:
Instagram: @LittleDonatella
images by @photonathalie Nathalie Gordon
