MunaLuchi Interview with Michelle Mitchenor

COVER STORY

LOVESPEAKS

PHOTOGRAPHED BY Joshua Dwain PHOTOGRAPHY ASST: Matthew Ellis CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tristan Barrocks SET DESIGN: Eddie Zaratsian WARDROBE STYLIST: Charlie Brianna HAIR STYLIST: Annagjid "Kee" Taylor MAKEUP ARTIST: Rebekah Aladdin

The call time was 10:30 am. And although the forecast called for rain for the entire week, we were hoping for a little glimmer of sunshine, because it’s LA of course. Although the Golden State was not cooperating that day in terms of weather, the vibes were right and the setting was ready for magic to be created.

Michelle Mitchenor, a Jersey girl by way of being a military kid, arrived in a brown fur coat, a blouse paired with baggy jeans — and accompanied by her bulldog Boom, who is the sweetest dog you’ll ever meet. Michelle stars in the hit FOX tv show Lethal Weapon and was married this past October to Seven Seconds star Coley Mustafa Speaks. (More on her wedding after this editorial spread).

Before becoming a series regular on FOX’s Lethal Weapon (she plays Detective Bailey), Michelle was heavily involved in the arts, performing with artists Beyonce, Rihanna, Pharrell and more. (She graduated from Ocean County Performing Arts Academy and obtained a BS in Dance Performance.) It wasn’t until 2015 when she took a leap to pursue a career in acting. Her big break came that same year when she auditioned for Spike Lee’s film component to the popular video game NBA 2K16.

DESTINATIONS

DRESS: Justin Alexander JEWELRY: Adornmonde

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COVER STORY

Back on the set, stylist Charlie Brianna was lining up the looks for the day, while the glam team started prepping. When it came to fashion, wewanted to show a range of looks that would work for various brides. For beauty, a classic makeup look with various natural hairstyles would do.

As the day progressed, Michelle was a natural, posing for each look like a pro and moving gracefully to music from the soundtrack to If Beale Street Could Talk. There was a moment when everything seemed to freeze, and all eyes were on her. She was in her element and we all stared in amazement while the flashes and shutter sounds from Joshua’s camera filled the room. It was tender. It was graceful. It was an experience. And we are so happy to have her grace our Winter cover.

interview by tristan barrocks

TELL US WHERE YOU'RE FROM.

I’m from NJ by way of being a military brat but we’re just going to say NJ. It's where I've lived the longest.

HOW DID YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND MEET?

We both booked a pilot in 2016 for the a & e channel called The Infamous. And he was just trying to be the good guy that he is and reach out to the other actors on the show that he didn’t know. So he DM ’d me on Instagram and introduced himself, and I was just like cool, thanks, whatever. He mentioned that he owned a fitness gym.... and he was like, 'If you ever need a trainer… or something like that…' And was like ok... So now I'm thinking he’s trying to be a creep, but I’m also thinking, I could get a hookup. You know?! Get a discount on my personal training. It's all good! And we’re about to work together too? Bet. So we do the pilot but my character and his character didn’t interact within that pilot, so I didn’t meet him until the wrap party. Met him, was like ok cool, whatever...And then a week or so later he called me and was like ‘I’m interested.' And I was like oh okay... I didn’t know... you talking about gettin' personal training and all these other things. And after that, we went on our first date and kept going after that.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE GETTING TO KNOW ONEANOTHER? WHAT WERE SOME OF THE THINGSYOU THOUGHT WERE SWEET ABOUT HIM?

What I loved the most was that initial phone call. He was just like 'Listen, I would like to get to know you. I want to take you out.' It was very straight forward, and I didn’t have to question what he was interested in. He was interested in me and made it very clear. And from that point on our friendship blossomed. And at the time I was celibate,

so I made that very clear very early on and he was cool with it...which was great! Because I was in a place where I was like…look…until I'm ready... And he was super cool with it and because he had a Marine Biology background and he studied sharks and all these things… he has such an arsenal of information that I'm never not learning from him. I felt like even on a friend level he was depositing so much information into my life, just to help me as an artist with my businesses….without...you know…he wasn’t getting no cookies

(We all burst out in laughter).It was straight friendship.

SO THE BROTHER WAS JUST DROPPINGKNOWLEDGE!

Brother was just droppin' knowledge and gems and it had me open, but intellectually. So that’s the thing that stands out the most. Even today. We were just on our honeymoon and we were at the beach and he’s telling me about corals and all these other things in the ocean that I have no idea what he’s talking about and I’m like…dang you’re really smart.

(Michelle smiles).

So till this day, that's what I love the most about him. I can escape from whatever it is that we’re doing in the industry and he has such a well of knowledge.

TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT THE PROPOSAL.

So the proposal...He faked a fight the night before so it got a little…yeah...dangerous

AND HE’S AN ACTOR TOO SO…

So I did this role where I was opposite Lance Gross. And we had an intimate scene. And he pretended like he was really upset about it. And I was like what? This is mY career. You're

an actor. Like, I don’t get it. And he was acting super upset and super unsupportive and we were watching it on TV and he was huffing and puffing on the couch and in my mind I was like, so maybe this won’t work out because this is my life. I had a viewing party the next day with all my close friends at the Soho house. So now he was calling and asking if he could still come and I was like, I don’t know. Can you come??! You got a problem with the intimate scene. So I don’t know!

WELL, IT IS LANCE GROSS.

(Michelle laughs)

Don’t...don’t try to stick up for him! We get to the Soho house [and] I screen the episode. I go down to thank everyone for coming. And he goes ‘Wait, hold up one minute’, and then he starts talking about my trajectory and how much of a hard worker I am. Etcetera Etcetera. But he usually does that. He's just that guy. And he was like, 'So for that, we’re going to bring out a cake.' And I'm like ok, this is nice. A cake! And I go to blow out the cake and it says congratulations Michelle Mitchenor-Speaks, which is his last name. And I was like…Michelle Mitchenor Speaks… and I turn around and he was on his knee. So he faked a fight and proposed to me in front of all my close friends that I personally invited [and] it was super intimate and perfect...

TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT PLANNING THEWEDDING. BECAUSE FOR A LOT OF COUPLES,THAT CAN SORT OF BE THE MAKE OR BREAKLEADING UP TO THE WEDDING. THERE ARE A LOTOF THINGS THAT CAN BE STRESSFUL. BUT THEREARE A LOT OF AMAZING MOMENTS THAT BRINGYOU TOGETHER AS WELL. SO CAN YOU SHARE ABIT ABOUT THAT?

Absolutely. In planning our wedding, we

DESTINATIONS

HAT: Gladys Tamez Millinery VEIL: Grace Loves Lace JEWELRY: Tako Mekvabidze via www.TATA-LA.com GOWN: Justin Alexander

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GOWN & JACKET: Justin Alexander JEWELRY: Salita Matthews for Grace Loves Lace

DESTINATIONS

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wanted our guests to feel like they entered into our world. So from top to bottom, we wanted them to be able to leave this wedding and be like, I have somewhat of a glimpse of what it’s like to be within their lil’ love bubble. And we accomplished that and then some. His last name is Speaks, so our hashtag and theme was #lovespeaks. And throughout the wedding, when you went [through] different parts of the wedding...for example, as you went to take pictures [the slogan] was #lovecaptures. At our cocktail hour, we had spades, we had Jenga, you know…chess, so it was #loveplays. So we really just played on that and very much just incorporated our love theme. At the altar, he was kinda spitting somewhat of a poem with his vows, and he had his boys backing him up. It was like a whole call and response thing. And I was being my usual goofy self. And we boogied down the aisle to Method Man and Mary J Blige, "You’re all I need." And we just made it us. It was very east coast and honest, and grounded and genuine. And I felt like my wedding day felt like a slow dreamy sequence in a movie.

BEAUTIFUL.

And one thing we did, which I suggest every bride do, if you have the opportunity. I’m giving you the keys right now...

After you say your ido s and you walk down the aisle and are taking pictures. take (if you can) at least half an hour to sit down with your new husband or your new wife, and have your meal there together. We had our meal together, in our hotel room, and just got a second to [take it all in]. And we got to eat. So then when we went into the reception we did n’t have to worry about [not being able to eat] and we just had that moment with each other. So I highly suggest every bride do that.

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT FASHION, INSPIRATIONFOR YOUR WEDDING. WHAT WAS SOME OF THEINSPIRATION?

So him and I both designed what we wore. I designed my dress and he designed his suit. He wore a mandarin style suit. We believe in a lot of the principles of Islam as well, so he got our names stitched in Arabic on his suit. [For] my gown, because I’m an actress and I do certain appearances and such, I just wanted to really feel like a bride and a princess. And I just didn’t want it to be something I can see myself wearing to an [award show] one day. A lot of wedding dresses, although they are all incredible, they

can look similar to what I can wear to some of those kinds of events. It was a mixture of vintage meets Coming to America at the end meets just who we are. Everything was custom. My veil was an arm shoulder veil because I didn’t like anything over my face or hair, so I’m always thinking what can we do to create what I like and what represents me and what represents us so as I walk down the aisle to my husband he fully sees me.

THAT LEADS ME TO MY FINAL QUESTIONS WITHREGARDS TO THE WEDDING. WAS YOUR FAVORITEPART OF THE WEDDING OR ELEMENT? WAS IT THESWEETS, THE AROMA, THE MUSIC? WAS IT THEDECOR? WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART?

That a really really really hard question, because, as I said, I really loved my wedding. For me, my favorite part is when I walked down the aisle and to see the suit he created and to see our names in Arabic on his suit... and my husband hit the Colin Kaepernick knee when I walked down the aisle. So he hit an actual knee. And that kinda was like... a moment for me because I knew he would get emotional but for him to actually like hit a knee...it was so special. And to see the amount of time in just how specific his whole look was, it just really warmed my heart. It was beautiful.

SO LET'S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT TODAY’SSHOOT. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT?OBVIOUSLY, YOU’RE AN ACTRESS AND HAVEBEEN IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA. BUT HOW WASTHIS EXPERIENCE DIFFERENT FROM OTHEREXPERIENCES?

I was driving today thinking about representing different types of brides. You know what I mean? I had to kinda take away what I as a bride would like. None of these looks are anything near what I did which I think is perfect because I would hope that other women that are thinking about how will I wear my hair, what kind of dress... Those questions that you don’t know, cause you’ve never been married before. I just really hope that I helped accomplish just showing versatility in hair, in styles of gowns. And honestly even with my shape. I’m not a super small girl either. I very much got the hips and the black girl thang. So especially in this particular magazine - it’s a very diverse magazine and represents the international bride and I hope that we accomplished that and I hope that they’re happy. So that’s what makes it different. Each different look I tried to think, what if I’m the more simple bride who is very soft, or what if I’m the fun

one who likes to cheese all the time, or what if I’m fierce from head to toe, or maybe a little more bohemian…Just incorporating all the different types of bridal styles was really important to me.

CAN YOU SHARE WITH ME YOUR FAVORITE LOOK?

I think my favorite look will have to be the blush look. The blush look on the fireplace with the candles. It was super romantic, and it reminded me of what it felt like to walk down the aisle. We put on specific type of music and set that type of tone. So it took me back to my wedding day.

WITH SEASON 3 OF LETHAL WEAPON ENDINGAND NEWS OF DAMON WAYANS POSSIBLY NOTRETURNING, WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE YOU ASFAR AS YOUR ROLE IN THE SHOW? WHAT CAN WEEXPECT NEXT FROM MICHELLE MITCHENOR?

First, let me say that I’m really proud of my cast this season! We had a major shift this year and we came together and knocked it out of the park!! As far as if we will have another season or if Damon Wayans is returning or not, I have ZERO IDEA. However, what I will say is that I’m open to whatever God has in store for me. I’ve found that over-thinking about what’s to come in my business drives me crazy and it’s better to surrender it all to God. Lethal Weapon is my first Network Television show and I’m beyond grateful that I’ve been able to have this experience

HOW CAN PEOPLE FOLLOW YOU AND GET MOREINFORMATION ABOUT YOUR BRAND?

Absolutely! On all platforms type in Michelle Mitchenor. I’m like the only Mitchenor pretty much on the planet. soooo. (laughs). That won’t be hard there. Also, I have the Mitchenor Foundation. It's an art foundation for children in underprivileged and underserved communities. So we serve down in Skid Row. We go to Africa every year. We're hoping to head out to India this year, and we pretty much provide all visual and performing art-related programming to these children. That's like my baby right now, because I haven’t birthed my own children yet. So right now that’s my baby. So if you can support that in any way www. themitchenorfoundation.org. We're also on Amazon smiles, so if you shop Amazon, you can also contribute to the foundation as well. And yeah, Lethal Weapon! We're in our 3rd season, every Tuesday at 8 pm on FOX.

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GOWN: Galia Lahav JEWELRY: XIV Karats

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CORSET & SKIRT: Galia Lahav HEELS: Schutz JEWLERY: Vintage

COVER STORY

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"I'm open to whatever God has in store for me. I've found that over-thinking about what's to come in my business drives me crazy, and it's better to surrender it all to God."

- MICHELLE

SUIT: Keti Chkhikvadze via www.TATA-LA.com FACE ACCESSORY: Vintage

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