Porsche Thomas: "I'm A Daddy's Girl, Not A Girly Princess" (PHOTOS)

Porsche Thomas is a strikingly beautiful Los Angeles based model and actress who is presently dropping anchor in Harlem, New York.

You may recognize the Brooklyn born beauty from when she modeled an Oscar worthy dress on TV which was in competition earlier this year as part of the Oscar Designer Challenge where nine designers competed to have their designs worn by a star at the Academy Awards.

You may also recognize Porsche in the coming weeks because she's just shot a national commercial for Nikon and because she's a host on teen advice website Teendiariesonline.com.

GlobalGrind spoke to Porsche and we discussed what it's like for her as a dark woman with natural hair working in the fashion industry, her love of movies, her father Peter Thomas ("The Real Housewives of Atlanta") as well as her dreams and aspirations in the industry. Here's some of our conversation.

GlobalGrind: Hey, what’s up! Where are you right now? 

Porsche Thomas: I’m, in Harlem right now. I live in L.A. but I’m out here indefinitely.

How are you liking Harlem?

You know, I’m form this area. I’m from Brooklyn, but I grew up in Washington Heights, so, to me, it's home!

What part of Brooklyn?

I’m from Flatbush! Yes! The Trini’s!

Do you have a lot of Trini friends?

I don’t, I have a lot of Trini and Jamaican family, though. My father’s Jamaican and my mother’s part Trini.

Your Dad is on TV a lot lately, does that bother you that he’s so exposed?

Noooo! You know, it's not like he was made for it. He just one of the guys where he’s not like greatest guy you'll ever meet, but you still kind of love ‘em and you don’t really know why. He has this air about him; he just captures your attention. He has this amazing presence, so I think it’s good for him. I think its been great. 

You have an amazing presence too. We are really struck by your hair. It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen women who look like you getting work.

Yeah, you know my hair changed everything. For the longest time, I would go get my hair done every week, get it straightened and everything. One day I just didn’t feel like doing it anymore. So much work and so much maintenance! It was a lot of money and I just didn’t want to do it. The transition was painful because the transition from the relaxers to natural, it took forever! It would be half straight, half curly. I don’t know if you know her, my dad’s wife Cynthia, she got sick of me complaining about it. One day she sat me down in my living room and just started cutting my hair off. Then I had a black curl [Laughs]. It’s just a little afro and it became my thing. It’s been about 3 and a half years now.

Have you met hairstylists who were intimidated by African hair texture?

I do a lot of runway so either they’re afraid or say it's perfect just like that and they don’t touch it. My girlfriends complain because their hair gets fried in New York, but no one ever touches my hair. I might get some shine and that’s it. So, it actually has been really good for me. Now, I get to keep the quality of it; it doesn’t get damaged and it works for me. I've been getting a lot of work with it and its just been, really, a great thing for me.