Hey guys!
Kristinia DeBarge here! When I came to the J-14 offices for my first official day as their summer intern, I was chatting with one of the editors Lisa about my fave beauty brands (more on that later, but you can read about the beauty trends that I'm into this summer here! Oo! And the pic above is of me in the J-14 beauty closet -- yeah, that's right, girls, there's a whole WALK-IN CLOSET full of makeup and hair products in the office! Heaven, right?)

Anyways, I couldn't remember the name of the product and apologized for pronouncing it wrong. "Um, aren't people always butchering your name," Lisa interrupted me. "I think it's fair if you butcher someone else's for a change!" Yeeeah! You're right, I thought. Come on people, say it with me: Kris. Ti. Neé. A. Kristinia! Everyone says my name wrong aaaalllll the time! I think the funniest is Kristinira -- like, someone decided my name was so difficult they had to add extra letters onto it to make it even harder!

When I first got signed and was working on my album, the record company wanted me to change my name. L.A. Reid (my boss, a big time music guy who has worked with Pink, Usher, and Ciara!) wanted me to change it, but was like, "you're living with it for the rest of your career, so it has to be what you want." He really loved my middle name Jamie and thought it would totally work as my name, but I couldn't do it! I was like, "Kristinia! That's who I am, that's who I've grown up to be and I'm not gonna change my name!" So I fought for it, and I'm really happy I did. I think Kristinia fits - don't you? :) Has anyone ever asked YOU to change something about yourself? What did you do, did you change or did you stay true to yourself?

Hope you're all having fun in the sun!
xoxo
Kristinia

P.S. Great news before I go! My very first album Exposed (featuring my first single "Goodbye") is out July 28 (ah! that's in less than two weeks). I'll keep you guys updated, and for now you can always download "Goodbye" off of iTunes and check it out on MySpace!