Hi, OWN family.
This is your girl, Melody Shari from "Love & Marriage--
Huntsville," and you're watching OWN's 20 Questions.
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Advice that I would give to my teenage self
is even though you've been sheltered a little bit, know
that the world can be tough, and the world
can at times be challenging.
And people's intentions aren't always pure,
so learn how to view people and things not through necessarily
the purity of your soul in your eyes
because the world does not operate like that.
I don't remember where I was when I first got the news
that "Love & Marriage--
Huntsville" had been greenlit, but I
know that my emotions were ecstatic,
happy, thrilled, and thankful.
I think being on the show has actually,
I would say, enhance my abilities as a business woman.
I have grown even tougher skin.
And I have learned that everyone is not
going to like what you do, or how you feel, or what you say,
and how you say it.
And that's the way it is in business.
Everyone is not going to like the different business
endeavors and business ideas that you decide to pursue.
But you have to stay true to yourself.
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Now, you know, everybody wants to know
if Melody is currently dating.
The answer is no.
No, I am not currently dating.
I have dated some after deciding to leave
and walk away from my marriage, but I have
not dated in almost a year.
And it's a choice that-- it's my choice, of course.
And I'm just really focusing on myself,
on self-love, on figuring out this new normal
for myself and my children.
And so dating is just not at the top of my list right now.
Some of the things that I would look for in a future partner,
I would say the three P's, provider,
protector, and professor.
And by professor, I mean, you know,
someone who is not ashamed to profess their love,
profess their feelings to you, all that good stuff.
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I think the show does a great job
at capturing what's going on in our real lives from day to day.
One event for sure, though, that I
would say I wish maybe had actually made cut and edit
was I have a master class that I teach where I've had over 450
women, African-American women, go through my course
in a two-year time frame.
And I've been helping them get into this multibillion dollar
industry called Property Preservation.
They've created businesses.
Some of them have been able to resign
from their nine-to-fives.
They've started creating generational wealth by teaching
their children as well how to take
part in property preservation.
And so I do wish that that scene for sure had made
cut, because I think that's what OWN is all about.
I think that's what "Love & Marriage--
Huntsville," a piece of that, is about is
showing how we can be successful in business as a culture.
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Three things that I would tell a friend before joining
the cast of a reality show--
I would say one, be prepared for all your business
to be in the streets because you're
going to expose yourself on TV.
But then, behind the scenes, people
are going to be looking up and researching you as well.
So be prepared for that.
Number two, if you're in a relationship or in a marriage,
be prepared as well for people to come at that.
So make sure you have a strong foundation
and that you are secure in that relationship.
And number three, I would say have a conversation
with your family, too, because sometimes their business
end up getting in the street too,
because you're on the show.
So yeah, those would be the three things I would say.
If I could be on any other reality show,
I would choose "Survivor" OK because as Beyoncé say,
I am a survivor, so yeah, "Survivor."
What I love the most about filming "Love and Marriage--
Huntsville" is having the opportunity to help others,
to let women see and know that they're not alone
in their journeys, and being able to,
you know, through my transparency
and my authenticity, being able to encourage and show them
that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that
no matter what you go through, you can get through it.
Being on "Love & Marriage--
Huntsville" has definitely changed my life because it has
made it to where anywhere you go now,
pretty much people know you.
No matter what side--
I've gone out of the country, and people are
like, oh, "Love & Marriage--
Huntsville."
I'm like, hey.
So it has definitely changed my life in that sense,
but I'm thankful and appreciative of it
because that means there are more people that I'm
able to touch, that I'm able to speak to the heart and the mind
of.
And so it's just opened me up to a whole other level
of connectivity.
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You know, I don't know what's going on with Destiny.
I haven't spoken to her.
And you know, I'm sure--
I'm hopeful that she's doing well.
So typically, for one, when I think about friends
that I've had for 10 plus years, I don't really
have arguments with them.
Like, we don't agree on everything,
but it's never any way where there are hard feelings
or we even argue about it.
We don't argue.
Like, we say how we feel.
And then it's like, OK, girl, so what you want to eat?
Where are we going?
What's up?
It's never anything that's held on to
or anything that's done where there's
so much damage that is like, oh, you can't recover from that.
So I don't really--
I can truly say prior to "Love & Marriage--
Huntsville," I wasn't have an arguments with friends.
I just wasn't.
I try to choose people that I welcome into my circle,
into my life trying to--
especially now after spending some time by myself
and learning more about myself, I'm
very particular in terms of making sure they're genuine,
their intentions are pure, making sure that they're just
coming with authenticity, and they
are coming with pure hearts.
If it's not that, I don't really want it.
Well, duh.
Of course, it will be one of my songs, OK?
"Down," "Side Chick Award," "Tell Tale Signs,"
one of my songs.
If I can have dinner with two people, dead or alive,
one would be Oprah Winfrey.
I think that her story--
you know, her grassroots story is amazing
and how she just really built an amazing empire
as a Black woman.
And then two, deceased, I will say Rosa Parks.
Knowing her role in the Civil Rights movement and her stance,
I would love to sit down and have dinner with her.
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Child, listen, OK.
So if I were a superhero, my superpower
would be invisibility because let
me tell you what I'd be doing.
I'd be walking around all kinds of rooms
and all kinds of conversations just had,
so they wouldn't even know it's coming.
So it would be funny to me because they
were just feeling [INAUDIBLE].
You know how somebody's walking, and their foot go out,
and they just flip over?
Yeah, that's what I would be doing with.
Invisibility will be my superpower.
One thing that I could not live without--
I don't really get attached to things.
Now, we know we can't survive without food and water.
But I don't really get attached to things
like that where I would feel like if it's not here,
I can't live anymore.
You know, of course, my children being in my life
is super important to me.
So of course, I don't want to live without my kids.
But things, materialistic things, nothing.
Nothing.
I could live without everything when it comes to that.
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If I were stranded on an island with only one album
to listen to, I would choose--
I would choose Lauryn Hill--
"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."
Yeah, that's what I would choose.
That's a bomb album.
Like, we all know that, like, period.
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What can you expect from "Love & Marriage--
Huntsville" season four?
Well, I think you can expect more
than you got in season three.
The heat definitely goes up a little higher in season four.
But I'm also hopeful that through all of that,
people are also able to pull some of the great business
advice, great business success as well
that different individuals on the show are pursuing,
and just seeing that some things that have not necessarily been
considered OK, such as setting boundaries, breaking away
from things that are not benefiting you mentally,
emotionally, and spiritually, normalizing that and saying
it's OK for a person to set boundaries
and to choose to break away.
And that doesn't mean that there's
any ill intent, any ill wishes.
It just means I'm choosing me.
And that's definitely where I am, for sure.
One area of my life that I'm trying to own wholeheartedly
and make sure I'm the best version of myself
is in my journey in self-love.
And the past year, I will say I've
spent more time alone than I've ever
spent alone in my entire life.
But it has actually helped me on my self-love journey
and realizing, like, man, Mel pretty dope.
Girl, you're pretty all right, like, you know.
So it's been really good for me in terms
of just really learning to be OK with being by myself
and loving me for me when the makeup's off, when the hair is
off, the wigs, the units, and you know,
and just laughing at my own corny jokes and thoughts.
Like, that's really where it's at for me right now.
Make sure you watch "Love & Marriage--
Huntsville" every Saturday at 8:00/7:00 Central
Standard Time only on OWN.
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