Radio's Queen Bee - A profile of iPower's DJ

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A PROFILE OF iPOWER'S HONEY B

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Jna dim room lit only by sunlight, Brittney Mallory sits alone working at her desk on Sunday morning. Tired from the previous night's celebration - Mallory just turned 21 - she chooses to keep the lights off. As rapper T.1.'s "Whatever You Like" plays softly in the background, Mallory taps away at her computer. Suddenly she speaks, and a burst of energy fills the quiet room. "Honey B buzzzzzzin' all over your radio. Here's Ludacris and Chris Brown. They know what them girls like," Mallory says. Mallory, better known to the Richmond community as Honey B, is one of the youngest on-air personalities at iPower 92.1. Always interested in the entertainment industry, Mallory wasn't always sure of how to enter the business.

"You always listen to the radio, but you don't ever think that could be you actually talking. I would have never thought that at such a young age I would be the one talking on the radio." attention. "She wanted to be in everything. Something came along; Brittney wanted to be in it."

Brittney Mallory entered the entertainment industry by acting in school plays and doing an Arby's commercial. During her freshman year at Norfolk State University, Mallory was told she didn't have what it takes to work at the school radio station. Determined not to give up, Mallory began working for the school TV station taping artists live at the radio station. Under the pretense of catering, Mallory attended an iPower 92.1 event and used the opportunity to break into the industry.

Pursuing an opportunity to intern at iPower 92.1, Mallory took the next step and transferred to VCU. Mallory began interning Monday nights. She spent the summer of 2006 learning how to tape and cut commercials, learning radio terminology and how to be natural on the radio. Motivated to learn more and advance in her job, Mallory took as many shifts as she could. "I was just all over the place ... anywhere I could get in at the station I would be there." It wasn't long before everyone noticed her drive and passion. "She's focused ... she's a hard worker," on-air personality Arthur "A Plus" Willis says. "She sacrifices a lot of her time to grind." This work ethic got her promoted from intern to on-air personality at 18. The long hours her job requires began to take a toll on her school work. Mallory decided to take time off from school.

This decision did not slow Mallory down. She works a second job, directed her first fashion show on Halloween, is part of improv comedy group No Name Needed 7 and landed a sponsorship deal with Haagen-Dazs for their Save the Honey Bee foundation.

Darryl Greene, director of NNN 7, notes how much of herself she puts into everything she does. "After her long days at work, she still comes through to (NNN 7) practice, slaps a smile on her face and still tries to give it her all knowing she's exhausted. A lot of people don't have that drive." "The only way to get what I want is I have to go after it," Mallory says of her lifestyle. Despite the nature of her career, Mallory said she's still a regular person. She still gets excited meeting her favorite artists. Mallory recalls a trip to New York where she met her favorite rapper, Fabolous, at his album listening party. "We were out to dinner and one of my homeboys got a text saying Fab was having a listening party. Five minutes later they text me saying it was cancelled and I started crying." Mallory's friends asked her to go along with them to the Nike iD store, the venue of the party, because they had never been. Upset and depressed at her failed opportunity to meet Fabolous, Mallory initially didn't want to go. Mallory eventually decided to join them anyway. A Hummer plastered with the rapper's name and face sat in front of the store. As she walked in, his music poured from the speakers. Then she spotted a young man in a Rich Yung hoodie. It was him, Fabolous.

"You could see it in her face," Willis said. "She was like a kind in a candy shop." Regardless of the celebrities she meets, what's most important to Mallory is the music. "Music means everything to me. It's a way of life. Music can enhance your mood, it can set your mood, it can (determine) your mood. It's just a lifestyle, it's definitely my lifestYle."