Catching up with The Melanins
Lonnie, Lon, and Ashlee Melanin met at a High-School party and hit it off since then, therefore, they can be considered as ‘High-School Sweethearts’. On IMVU RP, Lon states that he is a “Videographer, roleplayer, writer and father,” and Ashlee a, “Wife, mother, roleplayer, physician, who describes herself as a foodie and health nut.” Just like every other couple, they had a bit of hardship in their relationship, but got back together and never looked back. Today, they have been together for 11 years and run multiple IMVU businesses, with Melanites University being the latest one.
In this interview, VXM’s Kaileighn sits down with the IMVU Power Couple to find out what it’s like to juggle family life, run businesses and keep their love life alive!
How do you keep the spark in your relationship alive? AshleeMelanin: Lots and lots of changes LonMelanin: Honesty AshleeMelanin: Well honesty will forever be number one. If you don't have that, you do not have a relationship
What made you both decide to go into business together and create an empire? LonMelanin: Well, it was in my wedding vows, so that is one part. But, we are pretty talented as individuals, so it wasn't too hard for us to try to come together and figure out a plan for what we wanted to conquer and we're still doing it. AshleeMelanin: Right... back in the day when we won the lottery, a fun fact no one really knows, we knew that we were going to do something great so our daughter would have a great life and business to take over. We didn't know honestly that we would be where we are today.
After winning the lottery, what was your first business venture? LonMelanin: We started with rebuilding Bundle of Joy AshleeMelanin: We have even had celebrity clients
How is your daughter? AshleeMelanin: Beautiful! I look at our kids every day and think of how blessed we are. Like, we have some beautiful, talented and funny kids
Are your kids also a part of your business ventures? LonMelanin: Just productions AshleeMelanin: Mostly Khalia though. She is experiencing her teenage years right now. So she has a show on our VuFlix site right now and living her best life
Melanin Productions seem to be your biggest venture.
What was going through your mind when you had the idea of a production company? LonMelanin: My dream was never really to make a Production Company, it just sort of all created itself as we started to grow and people started to become more aware of who we were, what we did, and just loved what we brought to the screen. AshleeMelanin: What some don’t know is.. I don’t know everything that happens in the scripts. I can read them all day but she is forever making changes. So, by the time the episodes air, my jaw is dropped, just like the rest
Clearly, roleplay is not an activity to you, but a way of life. What started your love for roleplaying? LonMelanin: We had a rough patch and roleplaying is what got us through a lot of times AshleeMelanin: When we met outside of our family roleplay, like when we FIRST met, it was through roleplay as well LonMelanin: Being able to connect virtually even though we can't really physically always be around one another AshleeMelanin: My words out of her mouth [smiles]. That’s my soulmate as crazy as it seems to others LonMelanin: She didn't use to believe that at one point AshleeMelanin: I didn’t
Why is that? AshleeMelanin: I think I was scared to believe that someone could be so in tune with me. But yea, if you didn’t know how to roleplay before us, you definitely know how to now
What advice do you have for beginner roleplayers? AshleeMelanin: Put yourself in the situation as if it were real, and describe it as thoroughly as you can LonMelanin: Think of most situations as if they were really about to happen and how would you handle it
So how do you manage to keep family time separate from business? LonMelanin: We make time for both AshleeMelanin: I think it's easy. We are our own bosses so we make time for them, they definitely come first
Any advice to entrepreneurs with families? LonMelanin: Always make time for those who will be there if it all crumbles AshleeMelanin: My sentiments exactly
There has been an uproar in the community when Melanites University, your new business venture, hit the social media world; the name, the idea, the concept, EVERYTHING. LonMelanin: Well I picked Melanites because I looked up different terms for Melanin or African Americans and Melanites was one of them and I thought it'd be great as a school name LonMelanin: The idea was honestly because I love education, it's something I believe everyone needs whether it's just street smarts or book smarts LonMelanin: The concept was based on trying to give the Roleplay Community another look at what you could get out of role-playing and who doesn't learn something new? So, with Melanites, I wanted to be able to give those who may not have ever or will ever get the chance to go to college and chance to see what the experience could be like while also really learning something new
Now, what do you believe sets Melanites University apart from other universities? LonMelanin: I think what set Melanites University apart from other Universities is that we're a Black Owned College LonMelanin: We also take Role-play extremely serious... Although some may incorporate it within their campus, we try our hardest to make sure that we incorporate roleplaying into everything we do
What was your reasoning behind the length of semesters being as long as actual college semesters? LonMelanin: I believe that if you really want something you'll do all you can for it and I want to make sure my students get all they can within a longer period of time without trying to take up too much of their time as well
So with all the success that you both experienced throughout your IMVU lives, how do you remain so humble? LonMelanin: I always try to keep myself level-headed, but never underestimated. Like I believe that I can do so much more and make a lot of things come to life and be successful, but I always know that no matter what I do I wouldn't be able to do half of what I do without believing in myself and knowing my personal limits.
So, what can we expect to see from you both in the future? LonMelanin: You can expect to see growth and more businesses hopefully in the near future. We hope to open up Melanated Events by the end of this year, but the other things we got in store just gotta stay on the hush-hush for now
What will Melanated Events be about? LonMelanin: It will be our way of helping those who do love coming to our events and how we set up and we'll plan and/or host an event for them LonMelanin: Basically a new party planner is coming to town
Well, for your final words, do you have anything to say to the viewers, your supporters, fans, naysayers, and all in between? LonMelanin: Just that we love you all so much for supporting throughout this journey and we hope to always make you proud and give you something new and fun to enjoy every day
Good luck and hope we see more from the melanins!
| @lon.melanin | @themelanins.vu | Series – www.vuflixs.org |
| Melanin Production Company – @melanin.productionsvu |
Disclaimer: the personal views and opinions written in this post are from the writer and do not always express the professional opinion and views of Verve X Magazine.
Interviewer: Kaileighn Photos: Kongan Copy Editor: Xvd & HoneyR3llow
