Building a strong family while balancing the demands of busy careers isn’t easy, but pioneering rapper Shawntae “Da Brat” Harris-Dupart and hair products entrepreneur Jesseca “Judy” Harris-Dupart maintain it’s possible with understanding and intentionality.
The two women came together from different successful backgrounds. Da Brat was the first solo female hip-hop artist to have an album-certified platinum (her 1994 debut, Funkified). She followed that with a string of other hits, later moving into television, movies, and radio. Jesseca ran her own hair salon before launching Kaleidoscope Hair Products, whose retail distribution includes Walmart, Target, CVS, and Kroger.
With more than 8 million social media followers between them, the Harris-Duparts give viewers a glimpse into their home life in the reality TV show Brat Loves Judy, whose fourth season is due to air soon. Married since 2022, the two women welcomed a son, True Legend, last year.
They spoke with WayMaker Journal about their backgrounds, their work, their family life and their hopes for the future. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Everything that makes me me is from learning from the strong women in my life.
-Da Brat
WayMaker Journal: How did your family backgrounds shape who you are today?
Da Brat: My two grandmothers were everything. They were just two strong women. Although my grandfathers were there, it was like [my grandmothers] held it down—they did the cooking, the cleaning, they kept the family together. When things went wrong, they fixed everything. They were like the warriors. That was handed down to me. It’s almost hereditary: like, we have to be strong. And when you get in this game, this industry, you’ve got to be strong . . . everything that makes me me is from learning from the strong women in my life.
Jesseca “Judy” Harris-Dupart: I got a softer side of that. My parents, my father especially, would make sure to tell me he loved me every day. So, I’ve now done that with my loved ones. It is customary, before we get off the phone, before we do anything, we make sure we say, “I love you.” And then also, my father was an entrepreneur, so watching him has pushed me into the same realm of wanting to have my own business and wanting to succeed and do all of the things, and then just making sure that I have intentional time with my children.
WJ: With all the demands of your work lives, how do you keep family central?
DB: First, I say, you keep family first on speed dial. We didn’t have FaceTime back then, but I would call my grandmother to pray, my mama to pray. I was taught that, without God, I’m nothing. So I stay connected like that. I make sure that I speak to my family members, my loved ones, and try to help them as much as I can; be there for them. That is how I was raised and that was instilled in me. So that is what I will continue to do and pass on to our son.
WJ: How do you deal with all the demands and distractions of business?
DB: Well, those distractions to me are just like obstacles. A lot of those distractions to me are just like fake things, where family is like real love. People in the industry, they love you when you’ve got a hit record, or they love you when you’ve got something going on, and they love you when you’ve got some money or you’re somebody. But when all that’s gone, who have you got? You’ve got your family, you know what I’m saying? You have your loved ones. That’s how I stay grounded. I make sure that I call all the time, tell them I love them all the time. Me and my wife tell each other we love each other every day . . . the people who loved me genuinely before I was Da Brat, I stay connected with [them] and I try to be there for them as much as I can.
WJ: And how about you, Judy?
JHD: I will say that it is difficult. One of my sons works at the warehouse, and that’s family and business, and everybody knows how that goes. And then the other side of it is, I feel like something that’s not spoken about a lot is when you become the successful one in your family, you then become the leader of all things, and that means you’re responsible for all things. Everybody’s problems. Everybody’s everything. So I think, with me, I try to make time to have real conversations that have nothing to do with anybody else’s problems, anybody else’s issues.
WJ: You touched on something there, being successful as part of a family. How do you manage those dynamics?
JHD: I’ve created a buffer . . . so when people have their needs, I have a finance department. If anybody needs anything, you’ve got to talk to finance, because they handle my tax strategy, they handle my wealth strategy, they handle all of that . . . I’m just over here, the face of a company. Making decisions with your heart also can get you in a very bad place when you talk about business.
DB: Especially with family.
JHD: Correct. She don’t mind saying no, though. That’s the difference between me and her. I don’t know how to say no; it makes my heart hurt. She doesn’t mind. Or, if somebody’s asking for something, “Yes, I’m willing to give it to you, but this is how I’m gonna give it to you . . . you have to do this work for me over the next couple of months.” She’s been really good at this [and] I’ve been trying to follow her lead.
DB: I don’t do strikes. It’s like, one time that’s it. First time, shame on you. Second time, shame on me. I’ve been in the industry for so long and I’m just tired, and you just see it coming from a mile away—people be nice to you, even your family, and then you know something’s coming. If I see you trying to help yourself, then I will help you. But don’t just keep coming to me with your hands out, not doing nothing for yourself. I don’t believe in the little pity party thing. Figure it out.
WJ: What or who in your life made you decide you wanted to be successful?
JHD: If you’re from where I’m from [New Orleans], and you survived hurricanes and losing every single thing and having to rebuild it, I feel like that [is part of it]. And my faith in God has taught me that anything is possible . . . [after a hurricane] starting your life all over from scratch in a different place, figuring it out. If you can do that, I feel like you can do anything.
DB: For me, it would be growing up in Chicago, seeing people be happy with just being in Chicago and walking up and down the street, the same people getting older and older, not doing nothing, just being content, going back and forth to the store, going to get the lottery ticket and just not doing anything with their lives. [When I played a gospel rap song in church] they weren’t feeling it because they didn’t understand rap mixed with gospel back then. I knew when I grew up that is what I would want to do because I was really good at it, but it wasn’t accepted in church.
RELATED: Together Again(Opens in a new browser tab)
WJ: Da Brat, how have you stayed relevant and enjoyed such a long career?
DB: By the grace of God and not giving up, and trying to be resilient from the things that you go through. I got knocked down a few times, but you just don’t stop fighting, and you get back up: I went to prison, I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve learned from them, and I learned not to be a quitter. When I got out of prison . . . I went into radio, and I was good at it. Then, from that, I started doing TV, then I was on the first reality shows. Everything just started falling in my lap, and I just feel like they were just blessings because I didn’t give up and I just kept trying to pursue something because I know I have a God-given talent, and I had to use it some kind of way.
WJ: How do you cope with the demands of your businesses?
JHD: When I first got with her, she absolutely hated how I birthed my company on social media. She didn’t understand my phone always being in my hand. She didn’t understand me scrolling. She just thought anytime I had my phone in my hand, I was lolly-gagging B.S. and not doing anything. So I started including her in the things, in the business calls. So now she’s more knowledgeable and not fussing as much. I even added a product collection for her, so now she gets her own money off of residuals, and now she’s responsible for the content that she’s got to create for her collection. She didn’t know anything about the consumer packaged goods industry and I didn’t come from music, so I didn’t understand that either.
DB: I’m still adjusting, but I do understand it. Before, I was like, “You ain’t working, you’re just scrolling Instagram, looking at people’s pages. That is not working.” But it really is.
WJ: What does family time look like for you both when you’re not working?
JHD: It’s restful, because we move so much. In the bed, binge-watching a show that we both like with our snacks and literally not having to get up and travel to the airport, not having to pack a suitcase—because when she has her shows, I travel with her [and] sometimes when I have my meetings, she’ll travel with me.
DB: Or spending time with our stanky man.
JHD: She’s a new mom (I’ve had children prior), so watching her experience a lot of these firsts has just been very fulfilling. Like the first step, and now he’s babbling. He’s gonna be starting to talk soon. I will never forget, he was trying to crawl, and she was watching him, and she didn’t want to help him do it. She was like, “You can do it. You can do it.” And so, he finally got himself back up after he had stumbled a bit, and she just picked him up. That was so phenomenal, because I know what that feels like, as a proud parent. She was like, “I want to help him so bad, but I’ve got to let him do it by himself.” And he did it.
A lot of people think success is the largest amount of money but [not] if you’re absolutely unhappy doing it
Judy Harris-Dupart
WJ: What are three family values you want him to get and hold on to for his entire life?
DB: I want him to be a gentleman and know that chivalry is never dead. I want him to be humble, grateful. It’s so many more than three things.
JHD: Kind, respectful. And I want him to know that he could do anything. I don’t care what it is . . . whether he wants to be a personal chef, if he wants to (she ain’t gonna like this) drive trash trucks and he absolutely has a passion for that . . . I want our child just to be happy in life.
DB: He ain’t driving no trash truck.
JHD: A lot of people think success is the largest amount of money but [not] if you’re absolutely unhappy doing it, whatever it is . . . My parents tried to make me be a doctor or a lawyer, but I didn’t want to do that. So I just wanna make sure that our child gets to do exactly what he wants.
DB: And he’ll get to experience everything. We’re gonna put him in every sport, we gonna give him every instrument, whatever he enjoys, whatever he likes to do, he’s gonna be able to pursue that and we’re gonna make sure of that.
WJ: Da Brat, he could own a recycling company and that’s trash, but they make an awful lot of money!
JHD: I know, but guess what? He has to start driving the truck first, so he knows he likes it, and to understand the business. He has to start there first.
DB: You gotta start from the bottom.
