Emira D’Spain Is Having a Full-Circle Moment
Wildly popular influencer and former PAPER beauty director Emira D’Spain made her reality television debut this season on Bravo’s hot new show, Next Gen NYC. For the first time, fans and viewers can peek behind the beauty routines and cunty outfits – D’Spain’s words, and mine too really – at her everyday life.
Like her go-to Red Robin order, which is “mozzarella sticks, a chocolate milkshake, and a plain burger,” for the record.
D’Spain says the move to reality TV “felt very natural, but it was definitely scary at first, because on social media, I share a good amount of my life, but I also feel like I try to keep it educational and entertaining.” Beauty will always be the pillar of her content, and D’Spain says “it was a little daunting for me to open up, or be willing to open up about all that stuff, but I’m happy I did.”
Besides the fashion shows and makeup and Red Robin takeout, D’Spain also introduced fans to her boyfriend and the real-life friendships that make this cast positively electric. “For the most part, we were all friends,” D’Spain tells PAPER. “Like Charlie, Ava, Georgia and I already knew prior to filming, and then Brooks and I have been friends for a very long time. Riley and I met a few years ago, we’ve remained friends, but Ariana and Gia were the ones that I didn’t know when we started filming.” While she was “apprehensive” to work alongside Real Housewives vets at first, “Gia and Ariana were both the most welcoming, the most positive and easy to film with. The three of us have developed a really strong friendship since filming.”
If one has somehow been living under a rock, the currently airing cast trip to Atlantic City of all places is appointment television. With a finale next week, there’s never been a better time to catch up on D’Spain and the gang.
In the meantime, read the rest of PAPER’s interview with the rising star below.
I have a super important question I’ve been dying to ask you since the latest episode, which is: what is your go-to Red Robin order?
The go to Red Robin order is definitely mozzarella sticks, a chocolate milkshake and a plain burger with just cheese meat and a bun, and then a side of fries.
Oh my God, I would kill for a Red Robin shake right now. I was craving it.
Honestly? Same. It’s literally my favorite, like, when I was in high school, I used to make my friends come with me to Red Robin so that I could have the milkshake, and they would just sit there and watch me.I also have to ask:
How does it feel to be interviewing at a magazine you used to work for?
It’s so surreal. I was actually doing something with People the other day, and someone that was also an intern at PAPER at the same time that I was now works there, and it was so full circle. Also doing this, it’s all happening in the same week. It feels crazy. Like never in a million years did when I was working at PAPER that I would be coming back to do an interview. Then I did the cover with a bunch of other influencers a few years ago.
When you look back at that time in your life, where did you think that you were going? Obviously you have had such an explosion in your career since leaving, but back when you were working in the offices as beauty director, was this what you were building or hoping for back then?
Kind of! I was surrounded by some of the best people, and I’m still in touch with all of the people that I worked with at PAPER when I started out as an intern. I was in school at NYU, and I first worked on the marketing side — the agency side — and loved it so much, when I graduated, they gave me a full-time job. And then the editorial department saw how much I loved beauty, because I would come into the office looking cunt every day, and then they were like: “Do you want to lead our beauty division?” I got permission from the marketing department, and they were like, “So you’ll do marketing stuff two days a week, and then do editorial three days a week.”
I started writing for the site in the beauty department and it was really fun. I love writing, it’s what I went to school for. I would just do such fun stories, roundups of beauty and every fashion show, red carpet, or whatever I would like to do. Beauty trends, round-ups, interview my favorite beauty people. Because that was doing so well, they were like, “Why don’t you run SNATCHURAL?” which was our Snapchat beauty show that we came up with. And it was really fun. It was in a studio, and I did makeup tutorials and tips and tricks and things.
But at the same time, as I was building that out, I was building my own socials. A lot of the audience was coming over to my stuff too. It just all took off from there, and was all happening at the same time. I definitely saw a future in which I was going to be a big beauty influencer, as that was starting to come out, or just something in the beauty space. I have always loved marketing, and marketing and being in the influencer world all go hand-in-hand. It’s very full circle.
It feels like it was very organic. You were building a thing, and all these opportunities came to you through that.
It definitely all flowed in together. It was not like I’ve been trying to force something to fit. Also, the relationships that I built over the years being at PAPER have helped me so much, because it’s like, I’m now working with the same PR girlies who used to pitch me for stories but in a different capacity.
There are influencers who come from all walks of life, and you had the unique opportunity to be on the other side of things beforehand. Does it feel like that gave you an advantage at all going into it, knowing how the industry worked?
Oh my gosh, yes. Like 1,000,000%, When I was working on the marketing side. PAPER is the only nine-to-five job I’ve ever had, and I had it for, what, five years? Counting the intern days. It definitely helped because I was the one picking the talent to then pitch to brands, or going into L’Oreal offices and saying, “You need to work with this creator and this creator and this creator.” Now I’m on the other side, and I don’t even see the rooms that I’m being pitched in. It’s so crazy that I now understand what someone like me at that time was looking for.
So much of influencing is bringing people into your world. There are obviously many people who care about your opinions on fashion and beauty, and even your life. Did it feel like the move to reality TV was a natural extension of that, or did it feel like a very big leap for you?
It felt very natural, but it was definitely scary at first, because on social media, I share a good amount of my life, but I also feel like I try to keep it educational and entertaining. I love beauty so much — that will always be the anchor of my content. So when it comes to doing this show, it’s obviously a lot more invasive in terms of talking about your personal life and your relationships and your friendships. It was a little daunting for me to open up, or be willing to open up about all that stuff, but I’m happy I did. It’s a lot of fun. It was just nerve wracking at first, but it was definitely a natural progression of my career.
How aware were you of the Bravo universe prior to joining the cast of Next Gen?
I’ve always been a Real Housewives fan. It’s the only Bravo franchise that I’ve followed along with, but I’ve watched them all. Love New Jersey, love Atlanta, love Miami, love Beverly Hills, love Salt Lake City. I haven’t really tried Potomac yet, that might be my next move.
Who’s on your Mount Rushmore of The Real Housewives?
Heather Gay, Lisa Vanderpump —I’m going to spread it out across the different franchises. Erika Jayne has to be up there, she’s so iconic, I can’t! And then I would say NeNe Leakes.
I’m seeing a glamour and humor thread here, amongst these women.
The looks they give, the pink, the glam, they’re just so fabulous, I can’t.
When you watch so much The Real Housewives, you probably feel like you understand a bit how it works. But for the reality of filming a show like this, did it blow your expectations out of the water?
A million percent. I didn’t understand how much work goes into creating a show like this. Like, it’s very time consuming. They’re filming everything so you’re always ready to go, you’re always ready to film. And it was very much a shock, and honestly a testament to every reality star on Bravo ever for how much work they put into this. Because I definitely did not expect it to be as much work.
Viewers were introduced to your boyfriend, who you joke in the series is outside the influencing world you live in. Were you nervous about opening up that part of your life, and did you have talks beforehand?
My relationship is one of the things that I have never really shared on social media. We definitely had a conversation. And, you know, he’s great. He loves it. He loves it because I love it. And so it was really fun that we got to do this together. It’s one of the things that my audience has always been asking for, they want to see more of my life. They want to see, and they’re so invested that they want to gain more knowledge about who I am and what my day to day life is like. And that’s definitely, obviously a big part of it.
There’s an interesting mix of people on the show, there’s the rich kids, influencers, people who work and have jobs, the Real Housewives kids. Did you feel like you or the others had preconceived notions about each other going into it?
I don’t know if they had any preconceived notions of me, but I definitely feel like for the most part, we were all friends. Like Charlie, Ava, Georgia and I already knew prior to filming, and then Brooks and I have been friends for a very long time. Riley and I met a few years ago, we’ve remained friends, but Ariana and Gia were the ones that I didn’t know when we started filming. And I was a little apprehensive at first, just because I had never really met any other Real Housewives kids. I maybe had notions that they were going to come in and they were going to take over everything and act a certain way. They completely did the opposite. Gia and Ariana were both the most welcoming, the most positive and easy to film with. The three of us have developed a really strong friendship since filming. And I was actually with Ariana last night!
That was, let’s say, a soft way of asking if you guys were actually friends outside of the show. [Laughs] But it really does read, over the course of the show, like these are people who very much intersect with each other.
A hundred percent, and even since we wrapped filming we’ve gotten so much closer, just as a cast. We have this massive group chat, and we’re all texting all the time. We had Chloe Marks’ birthday last night, not being filmed, obviously. Everyone’s there, we all hang out on the regular, and FaceTime on the regular. I don’t want to say that’s different from a lot of the Bravo shows, but it’s because we’re all so much younger than, let’s say, the Real Housewives. We don’t have children or husbands, everyone’s wrapped up in the same city, in the same world. We go to the same events, we go to the same clubs, the same restaurants.
Let’s say there are interns out there who have big dreams of making it in fashion or entertainment or New York City whatever, just like you at PAPER back in the day. Is there any advice that you would give to them?
I would say: Be willing to do the grunt work. It’s gonna suck in the beginning, but the way that you do it and the way that you hold yourself when you do it is what people look at. And if you can handle doing those not so savory, unenjoyable tasks, you’ll gain so much respect from everyone around you, especially the higher ups. And then you work your way up and be kind, be positive. Always bring a fun energy, and you’ll do so well.
Photography: Bravo/ Bronson Farr/ Eugene Gologursky/ Heidi Gutman
