Music and fashion also happen to
be the key to her success. Daisy Fuentes has been MTV’s most
popular on-air personality for more than a decade. The network picked her to
host MTV’s House of Style, its popular fashion program.
Daisy’s long career in the changing world of MTV personalities is a great
achievement.
She has also hosted such important events as the Miss Universe Pageant and
this year’s Latin Music Awards. Her strong presence and perfect
diction in
both English and Spanish make her the perfect
host.
Daisy may spend her days travelling with celebrities, but her immigrant
beginnings were not that glamorous. She came to the United States from Cuba
after spending four years in Spain waiting to get into the U.S. Her family
settled in a middle-class neighbourhood in Harrison, NJ. ”I’ve lived in New
Jersey since I was 9 and that’s where I feel at home,” she says.
Despite all
her success, Daisy says she never planned to be in show business. She really
wanted to be a beautician.
”I was attending Bergen Community College in New Jersey and at the same time
I enrolled in cosmetology school because I loved to do hair and
make-up.
When I went out with my friends, I would do their hair and make-up,” she
says. ”I thought it was my
calling. It
came pretty naturally to me and I enjoyed it.” Daisy never made it to
cosmetology class.
Around that time,
a neighbour who was a fashion designer asked her to do a job as a model. She
started doing freelance modelling. Daisy met the wife of the president of
Channel 41, the local Spanish-language TV station, at one of the fashion
shows. The woman told her husband about Daisy and he gave Daisy an audition.
At the time she was still
an amateur and had no TV experience. But they saw her talent and offered her
a job announcing the weather. Daisy went to the beauty school’s office and
asked for her money back.
”I wasn’t very good at doing the weather at first. I had no idea what this
weather map behind me
meant. But
I felt comfortable in front of the camera, even when I didn’t know what I
was doing,” she says. ”I knew that I would get better. And I knew that this
was definitely what I wanted to do.”
While working for the
Spanish-language station, Daisy put together an audition tape and sent it to
MTV. They were impressed and offered Daisy a job doing MTV Internacional,
the Spanish-language MTV program. Her
relationship with MTV
has grown a lot since then. ”I love television, but I was ready to leave MTV.
Then they offered me the job hosting House of Style. I am always ready to
think about any
reasonable offers,” she says.
By taking risks and
taking advantage of opportunities, Daisy Fuentes is
poised to
go all the way, her way.
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