“HBCUs NEED FUNDING, THEY NEED THEIR JUST DUE. THEY NEED APPRECIATION, ADVOCACY AND RESPECT.”
“I booked mt first job with my natural hair. Before I would get auditions, but I wasn’t getting picked. But I was getting gigs with my natural hair,” she said. “I attracted a lot of carefree people. My hair is an expression of that freeness. It’s just growing naturally out of my head. “ She also learned about her birth charts from YouTube videos.
something through until the end.”
She sees traveling as an education (she has dual citizenship in Germany and the USA) saying that education helped to build her personal philosophy and personal reasoning to be here on this Earth. “Novi is a light force, she’s intuitive, culturally aware and artistically combustible. She’s a cultural surfer, multi-dimensional actress who swirls and taps into her experiences physically and psychically,” said fashion designer Etu Evans. “What makes her unique is how she integrates her German experiences with New York flair. Her eyes are hypnotic, her voice is memorable when she speaks to you, you think that you’re the only person present.” “She always had the goal of being something more,” said Steven Cuttings, a Seventh Avenue designer and professor at FIT who has known Novi since she was a baby. She’s been talking about action movies, films, and producing her own content. No matter what she does she will always shine.”
“I’m a Scorpio and everything they were
“Novi is a rare talent. Gorgeous, authentic and incredibly present,” said Syreeta Singleton, writer and showrunner of the show, “RAP SHIT.” “This is a show where you only do one take,” Novi said. “TV is more on your eyes than in your body. On stage you have to throw your arms and push out your chest. I use my eyes a lot as the character Sabrina. Sometimes I have to sit on my hands because that’s theater energy. TV is more understated.” Novi graduated magna cum laude from CCNY. But when she moved from New York to Los Angeles, hoping for more work, she found she was hustling more than acting - as a bartender, dog
walking, babysitting. At one point she ended up without a home.
saying on YouTube about Scorpios was right on,” she recalls. Now she has her own YouTube channel that focuses on astrology with plans to write a book about astrology, conduct workshops and create her own show. While she couldn’t attend an HBCU because of finances, she’s an advocate for HBCU’s and embracing Black culture – including natural hair. “HBCUs need funding, they need their just due. They need appreciation, advocacy, respect,” she says. “People are more triggered when Black people save spaces for themselves. Education is the art of discipline. It’s about seeing
“I asked myself am I doing wrong? Novi recalls.
She cut off her hair and started getting in touch with herself and developing her confidence. She started doing commercials, photography, diving deeper into film, and modeling. Her hair journey helped her gain more confidence. She had long been a regular customer in Dominican hair salons, where hairdressers would blow out her hair until it was bone straight. After she cut off her hair, she photographed new head shots with her natural hair.
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