Draya Michele: From Reality TV to Fashion Mogul, Motherhood, and Headlines Today

Draya Michele has a way of staying in the conversation—sometimes because of what she posts, sometimes because of who she dates, but most often because she keeps building. She’s not just a reality TV name you vaguely remember from a VH1 era. She’s an entrepreneur with multiple brands, a working actress, and a mother whose life has evolved in very public phases. If you’re trying to understand who she really is, her story makes more sense when you look at the timeline.

Who Is Draya Michele?

Draya Michele, born Andraya Michele Howard on January 23, 1985, is an American media personality, actress, and fashion entrepreneur from Reading, Pennsylvania. She first became widely known through pop-culture visibility and then cemented her public profile through reality television. Over time, she pivoted into business, using her audience as a launchpad for fashion and swimwear ventures that became the core of her brand.

One thing that’s easy to miss is how long she’s been building. People sometimes talk about her as if she “popped up” on reality TV and stayed there. In reality, Draya’s public life has been a series of pivots—visibility first, then monetization, then brand-building, then motherhood, and now a more mature version of her public identity where she’s balancing business and family while still being headline-adjacent.

How She Became Famous

Before she was attached to any show, Draya gained early attention online and through celebrity-adjacent coverage that put her name in gossip cycles. That era matters because it explains why she entered reality TV already carrying a certain public narrative. She wasn’t introduced as “a total unknown.” She was introduced as someone the internet already had an opinion about.

Her major breakout came when she joined Basketball Wives LA as part of the early cast. Reality TV gave her something social media can’t always deliver on its own: a weekly storyline, built-in controversy, and a mainstream audience that didn’t need to follow her first to recognize her name. She remained a notable part of the series through the show’s earlier seasons, and her time on the series helped turn her from “internet famous” into “nationally recognizable.”

Draya Michele’s Acting Career

Although many people still mentally file her under “reality star,” Draya has also worked as an actress. Early on, she landed scripted roles that signaled she wasn’t trying to stay confined to the reality-TV lane. Acting is a harder path than people assume—especially for someone who already has a public persona—because casting decisions can be influenced by image, not just ability.

Her acting work hasn’t been positioned as “one big role that defines everything,” but rather as an extension of a broader career. It’s part of what makes her brand feel more like a multi-platform business than a single-industry identity. Reality TV may have been the amplifier, but she didn’t treat it as the finish line.

Entrepreneurship: The Brands That Changed Her Trajectory

If you want the simplest explanation of why Draya has lasted this long, it’s this: she built businesses that outlived the show.

She’s widely associated with Mint Swim, a swimwear brand that became one of the most recognizable pieces of her entrepreneurial identity. Swimwear is a competitive category, and it’s also brutally exposed: customers expect fit, quality, and consistency, not just pretty photos. The fact that Mint Swim has stayed tied to her name for years is a sign she moved beyond “influencer merch” into something closer to a real consumer brand.

She has also been connected to other ventures in fashion and lifestyle, including collaborations and additional lines that broaden the “Draya” business footprint. The common thread is that she sells a specific aesthetic: confident, body-forward, unapologetic, and polished. Love it or hate it, it’s consistent—and consistency is what makes consumer branding work.

Motherhood and How It’s Shaped Her Public Image

Draya is a mother of three, and her parenting timeline is a big part of why the public reads her story in distinct chapters.

Her oldest son, Kniko Howard, was born in 2002, when Draya was 17. That detail is not just trivia—it reframes her entire origin story. Whatever you think of her public persona now, she began adulthood in a high-pressure way: young motherhood, financial survival, and the kind of responsibility that forces you to grow up fast.

Her second child, Jru Scandrick, was born in 2016 during her relationship with former NFL player Orlando Scandrick. If you’ve seen the name “Jru” and wondered how to say it, it’s commonly pronounced like “Drew.” Draya has often shown love for him while also keeping him more protected online than people expect from a public figure, which suggests a deliberate boundary around her kids.

In May 2024, she welcomed her third child, a daughter, with NBA player Jalen Green. Early on, the couple kept the baby’s identity relatively private; later reporting and social posts widely described the baby girl’s name as Lyght. Whether or not you follow celebrity baby news, this moment shifted her public narrative again: it placed her in a new life stage while also triggering intense online commentary.

Relationships People Associate With Draya Michele

Draya’s romantic life has been public for years, partly because she has dated well-known men and partly because the internet treats her dating history like a running storyline. Early on, she was linked to celebrity names that boosted her visibility in gossip media. Later, her engagement to Orlando Scandrick became one of the most widely discussed relationships attached to her name.

Her relationship with Jalen Green drew especially heavy attention because of the age gap and because he’s a high-profile athlete in a league where public scrutiny is constant. What’s often missing in the loud commentary is the quieter reality: public couples still have private lives, and whatever people think online, the relationship became serious enough that they built a family together.

If you’re trying to understand Draya’s public image, it helps to see relationships as only one layer. They create headlines, but they aren’t the whole story. The longer-running thread is that she turns attention into leverage—then tries to convert that leverage into something durable, like a business.

Quick Facts

• Full name: Andraya Michele Howard
• Born: January 23, 1985 (Reading, Pennsylvania)
• Known for: Basketball Wives LA, entrepreneurship, fashion/swimwear branding
• Children: Three (two sons and one daughter)

What Her Career Looks Like Now

Today, Draya’s public identity is best understood as a blend of entrepreneurship and influence, with entertainment as a supporting lane rather than the center. She’s a businesswoman who uses visibility as fuel, not a person trying to stay famous just for the sake of being famous.

That doesn’t mean she’s “above” the social-media cycle. She still benefits from it, and she still gets pulled into it. But the difference is that she has assets beyond attention: brand recognition, product lines, and a consumer audience that’s been trained to associate her with a specific look and lifestyle.

She also appears to be in a more grounded phase of public life. Motherhood changes priorities. It changes schedules. It changes what you’re willing to share and what you’re willing to ignore. You can see that shift in how she moves: still visible, still stylish, still very much Draya, but with a heavier emphasis on family and building something lasting.