Aug 24, 2011

Meeka Claxton Says She MAY Drop Lawsuit Against Tami & She DOES NOT Need Speedy's Money

Meeka Claxton is making the interview rounds in an attempt to do damge control and show folks who she really is...because, as she says, the producers of "Basketball Wives" did not show her "likable" side or her success as a businesswoman.  So she did this interesting little interview with Black Enterprise where she dishes on dropping the Tami lawsuit and more.

 

Deets inside...  

 

Most reality stars complain that show producers never reveal who they really are, and in the case of Meeka Claxton, she may be right.  In a recent interview for Black Enterprise.com, Meeka talked about her priorities as a mother and businesswoman and how she offers free real estate advice to young players.  The interview reveals a side of her that "BBW" came no where close to showing.  Read the highlights here....

BE Next: You’re more than just a basketball wife you’re also a businesswoman, tell us about your real estate company.

Meeka Claxton: Allure Realty Group is the brainchild of myself and my partner, Shiwana Scott-Reed. Before I’d even met her I was giving real estate advice to younger players, and at the time we were maybe 25 and these guys were 19 coming in buying $5 million dollar homes on $2 million dollar contracts. And as much as you want to live a certain lifestyle and be “the ballplayer” you can do that [but with] lower means. You can still watch your pennies. So I’d been giving free advice, and when I moved to Atlanta I really fell in love with Atlanta real estate, got licensed there, worked with Shiwana, who’s a broker, and she and I came up with this. I had a niche because I know the players, so what we came up with was this luxury red carpet relocation service. We’re a global relocation network. A lot of people think we’re just a real estate company and ask “well, how are you doing things globally and you’ve only got one office?” No, we’ve got two offices, which are more like call centers. We have a network all over the U.S. and also in certain countries, too, because we’ve worked with a couple of European player—so it’s growing.

Besides helping to buy and sell properties what services does your company provide?

What we do is travel for and with players during their off-season time or during the season when they may want to build or buy an off-season home and their wife or girlfriend doesn’t wanna miss a game. Or if they’re single, they can’t miss a game or practice, so we make things happen [for them]. We also have tools to present virtual tours and things like that to them. Everything we do is for their convenience. I know what it’s like to have to move mid-season and within a day and have kids and I knew that these guys needed help and that they would appreciate a service that would provide X, Y, and Z. We do so much—even stock the refrigerator and pantry of the home with the favorite items of the family before they even walk in the house.

Unlike some wives and girlfriends of pro athletes it seems like you always wanted to make sure that you were independent with your own money. Where did those values come from?

I get that from my mom. My mom taught me early on to be an independent woman. I don’t think she knew when I was seven or eight that I’d grow up to marry a multi-millionaire, but she was married to my dad who was a stockbroker at the time and making good money, yet she was a working mom by choice. She always said you have to have your emergency money, your own account. She always instilled that in me, so I always had it in the back of my head that I need to have my own emergency funds and checking account—something that no one could touch.

Being with my husband I meet a lot of these girls you’re talking about, about 85-90% of the girls in the league are like that, and I found myself talking to some of the younger girls telling them that it would behoove them to build something for themselves outside of these guys because sometimes they’re not even engaged. And even if you’re married nothing is guaranteed. I’m definitely blessed that I have a good husband and father to my kids, but still, I’m good if he’s gone.

That’s one of the main reasons I decided to say yes and do Basketball Wives because I wanted to show that we’re not all at home eating Bon Bons on the couch with three nannies to take care of our one kid. I have two kids and no nanny, although we do have someone who can help babysit if we need because of the schedule now, but honestly both my husband and I are both hands on.


How do you balance marriage, motherhood, business and your new-found celebrity?

The only way I know is prioritizing what’s most important, and that’s my family, so nothing was going to come before them. Luckily my husband scouts for the Golden State [Warriors] and his work didn’t start until June, so I was lucky that filming fell between the time that he was home and not doing anything so he could help me out a lot. He was there for me and he wanted to show a real family doing big things, I guess. If it wasn’t for him, I couldn’t have done it. We’re so close-knit. We’re not really about the nannies and all of that, but we do have family who can help, and we fly in my mom and dad from time to time. His parents are here in Long Island, so we have family help, but we don’t let them stay 24/7 to do that. That’s not their job. My priorities are my family first, my business and then everything else.

Now about the situation with Tami Roman, is your lawsuit against her still pending?

Yeah, the lawsuit is actually still pending. I did an interview and they asked me, “if she does want to talk to you and has learned her lesson, would you drop the suit?” I mean, that’s all I really want. I don’t need any money, I just really wanted her to know that you can’t [resort to violence] as a grown woman. I mean, I just turned 32. I was 31 when we were filming and she was 41. It’s like I’m a kid to you, so I felt like if I know better you should definitely know better. It was more like I said, a lesson you can’t just go around putting your hands on people because you don’t like something or you don’t like them. You have to learn to verbally express yourself no matter how hard that is. The lines of communication are open on my end so let’s see [what happens].

So you’re willing to drop the suit if you feel like she’s learned her lesson?

Yeah, I hate to say “lesson” because she is a grown woman, but it’s more like if she realizes what she did was wrong. That’s the way I want to say it I don’t want to say “learned her lesson.” If she honestly has some kind of remorse and can work on that then yeah, I’m grown and I have no problem talking to her.

 

Read the rest of the interview at BlackEnterprise.com/BENEXT

 

The Randomness

1.  Rodney King gets another DUI.  Story.

 

Source: http://theybf.com/2011/08/24/meeka-claxton-speaks-out-about-her-priorities-business-ventures-and-why-she-doesnt-need-s

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