“The Real Housewives of Potomac” star Stacey Rusch has defended her latest business venture, a wellness company that focuses on cannabis products. In an interview, the reality television personality laid out exactly why she isn’t happy with other cast members doubting her and explained how she has made history with the new business.
A major figure in Bravo’s “The Real Housewives” franchise, Rusch has also been keen to extend her reach outside of the show. She recently launched her own wellness brand named SHAYO, something she denied that she was working on during a reunion show for season 9 of “The Real Housewives of Potomac.” This prompted some criticism from her castmates who felt she had misled them when rumors were first brought up in the reunion episode.
Speaking in an interview with BravoTV, Rusch explained that plans for SHAYO did not materialize until after the show had aired.”I don’t have anything to say to people who criticize my decision to talk about the launch of my brand in my own time,” Rusch said.
Rusch also claims that timing is key when launching a new business and that she didn’t want to reveal her brand when it was not finalized, standing up for her decision to deny the rumors in the reunion when asked about it.
“I think that reasonable people and people that have businesses understand the importance of timing. And when I was asked about my brand, I didn’t have it at the time. And now that I do, I’m very excited to share that.”
Rusch, who has previously worked as a host on the shopping channel QVC, also took time during the interview to point out that she had made history in Virginia where she started SHAYO.
“I mean, I’ve made history as the first Black woman in the state of Virginia to have a cannabis brand,” she revealed. “I can’t be worried about other people. I can only focus on myself and my success. So, I don’t have a response to anyone who rushes greatness.”
Speaking about the launch of the business and her early success, Rusch called it “such a beautiful moment” before adding that “we are thriving in the state of Virginia.”
As for why she chose to work on a cannabis wellness brand, Rusch explained that it was a desire “to help people,” especially those who can’t usually get access to this sort of treatment.
According to Rusch, her business supports those “who may suffer, for example, from anxiety; or people who are going through treatment and need help in terms of getting their appetite back; people who have certain personal issues but need a little help maintaining their anxiety or their stress level.”
Quick on the heels of famously sassy, phrase-turning R&B singer and reality TV star Tamar Braxton’s announcement her recently released album, “Bluebird of Happiness,” will be her last — at least for a while — and news that her husband, music executive husband Vincent Herbert, founder of Streamline Records, was legally ordered to pay Sony more than $3.7 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2013 advance, the couple hoisted their grandly proportioned and glamorously appointed Mediterranean mansion in Calabasas, Calif., up for sale at $15 million.
The Herbert-Braxtons, married in late 2007 after about five years together, purchased the 13,716-square-foot mansion inside the double-gated Estates at The Oaks enclave in April 2013 for $10.5 million and public records show since then there have been several notices of default filed and subsequently canceled against the two-acre spread that provides a total of seven bedrooms and nine full and two half bathrooms between the main house and poolside guesthouse.
Wrought iron and glass front doors open to an entry vestibule and foyer with black and white floral-patterned inlaid floor and a floating, wrought iron railed staircase that curves up to the bedrooms on the second floor. The main living and entertaining space makes a great sweep across the rear of the residence with gleaming wide-plank hardwood floors laid in a classy chevron pattern.
A central gallery with glossy grand piano is flanked to one side by a lounge with semi-circular sofa in front of an ornate fireplace and to the other by a “champagne bar” modeled after The Dorchester Hotel in London with tufted velvet sofas and a stately wood-paneled ceiling.
Arched French doors open the vast space to an immense, stone-paved loggia with retractable canvas shade awnings and a bowling alley-length dining table that easily seats at least two-dozen al fresco diners. With elaborately carved cabinetry, granite countertops and a super-sized commercial-style range under a hand-hammered copper hood, the kitchen is open to a spacious informal dining area that, in turn, opens to a family room with fireplace and French doors to the backyard.
The three-story mansion’s creature comfort also include a home theater, a game room, an office, a wine cellar with tasting room and, unsurprisingly, a recording studio along with an elevator, an camera-equipped security system, a gentlemen’s lounge with authentic barber chair, a mirror-walled gym and a subterranean parking garage that will accommodate over a dozen cars. The mansion makes a U-shaped embrace around a broad and grassy courtyard with swimming pool and spa beyond which a soccer pitch-sized lawn gives way to a panoramic view over rugged ravines and undeveloped mountaintops.
Some of the other, equally sized and similarly luxurious estates in The Estates sections of The Oaks are owned by reality television’s Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian, Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine Jackson, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Jay McGraw, elder son of extraordinarily well-compensated TV therapist Dr. Phil McGraw, and his Playboy model wife Erica Dahm.