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Draya Michele

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Draya Michele aitting with a Apple laptop.
Draya Michele

Full Name: Andraya Michele Howard

Born: January 23, 1985, Reading, Pennsylvania, United States

Position: Founder, CEO, Designer

Works for: Mint Swim

Primary Industry: Apparel

Nationality: American

Residence: Tarzana, California

Andraya "Draya'' Michele Howard is the CEO of PA2LA Inc., and founder of Mint Swim, a swimwear line launched in 2011. She has built the brand into a multi-million dollar e-commerce and swimwear empire. “I saved up $12,000 and I invested it completely into my company," she told Refinery29 in a 2017 interview. In 2022 Cosmopolitan named the brand as one of it's "19 Black-Owned Swimwear Brands to Shop Before Summer Hits." Ms. Howard is best know as a social media influencer and for her appearance in the VH1 series Basketball Wives LA,

Ms. Howard is the mother of two children.

Work Experience

  • Founder, CEO, Designer, Mint Swim

  • CEO, PA2LA Inc.

    PA2LA Inc. is the owner of mint-swim.com.

  • Founder & Designer, Beige & Coco

  • Actress & Model, VH1

    Basketball Wives LA as Herself (2011), Real Husbands of Hollywood as Herself (2013), Will to Love as Candice Koleto (2015), The Perfect Match as Holly (2016), Bring Out the Lady as Dody Monroe (2016), True to the Game as Cherelle (2017), 'Til Death Do Us Part as Amanda (2017), We Belong Together as Tracy Jacobs/ Laura Santiago (2018), All In as Gina (2018), Star as Chloe David (2018), Tales as Viveca (TV Series) (2019)[7], Don Toliver - Cardigan (Music Video) (2020), L.A.'s Finest as Charlotte Hume (TV Series, 2 episodes) (2020), Be Someone as Mia (TV Series)(2021), The Fight That Never Ends as Beverly Williams (TV Movie) (2021).

  • Founder & Designer, Fine Ass Girls

Related Links

  • Twitter: @drayamichele Designer - Actress - Creative Director.
  • Instagram: @drayamichele
  • Draya Partners With PacSun To Carry Mint Swim In the season of independent fashion labels thriving, entrepreneur, actress and reality television darling Draya Michelle is celebrating a big win with her swimsuit label Mint Swim. The brand we once saw emerge on VH1’s Basketball Wives has now partnered with the retailer PacSun. “I never expected it to be what it was going to be today,” Draya tells ESSENCE. “In my mind I was just doing something that I loved and I was hopeful that it would make me some money, but I never really knew that it would be sustaining like it is.”
  • https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/08/169024/draya-michelle-mint-swim-interview In 2011, former model Draya Michele was cast for the debut season of Basketball Wives LA, Shaunie O'Neal’s Los Angeles off-shoot of the Miami series that followed a group of women whose claim to fame were their relationships with famous athletes. The only catch? She wasn't romantically linked to anyone in the NBA. (At that point, Michele was best known for her relationship with Chris Brown). But after moving to LA from Pennsylvania and earning some cash, she launched her first of now three clothing brands: Mint Swim, a swimwear line designed with “all shapes and sizes in mind.” Now, she's a self-made millionaire.

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