I want to talk about the new cast. It does seem that season two focuses on a more cohesive social group as opposed to the splintered stories like last year.
Yeah, this season it’s definitely a group of friends. I think you’re going to get a lot more of like The L Word dynamic, like from the original series. Where you have these women that live in L.A. – some have lived here, some have moved here – we’re all a little bit closer in age and we’re all a little bit more tied into the same thing. But there’s enough differences in our social scenes that don’t keep it like you’re watching one big party. We all have our own lives.
Is partying and drinking going to be a huge focus this year?
I don’t think it’s a huge focus. I’m really proud of this season. I’m really proud of the team. We did it really differently this year. I fell in love with every single person this season. They’re just amazing women that have their own unique story. I think that everybody is going to relate to someone in this cast. They did get it right in that sense. You do need a little bit of that young and fun, trying to establish who you are in this world. And yet still be established and still looking for the next step and things that we all in this world are actually going through. We’re going through it together. There is a partying side, you will see definitely more than you saw last season because we have a bunch of girls more the same age who go out. It’s not a lot of like, wives and couples.
What was your first impression of each of the new cast members? Can you tell me who you gelled with the most?
I met Saj at the very beginning and thought she was a really sweet girl who was kind of new to the experience. I think there definitely was kind of a motherly aspect that kind of came out of me that wanted to take care of these girls because I’d been through it. Me and Whit were honestly the only people that had even gone through any of this process before. There was a part of me that just kind of wanted to let them know that they’re not walking into something new; this is yours, we’re all family and we’re going to do this together. I think that was my approach to everybody, I really tried to get to know them. I met Frannie right before filming started and we hit it off the most, we became instant friends. She’s definitely one of the closest people other than Alyssa and my other friends. But Frannie is the new cast member I hit it off with. Now we’re all friends, all of us are friends. Claire is my friend, Kacy and Cori are amazing. I had dinner with them last night and we’re a family.
It does seem that you’re also really close with the season 1 cast as well. I know that you hang out with Nikki and Jill and you’re friends with Tracy and Stamie…
Yeah, season one cast is amazing. I wish the world could’ve seen all of them in a different light because, just like myself, I don’t think it was done the way it necessarily needed to be done. But I think they learned their lesson and got it right this time. Tracy & Stamie are hysterical, they’re such amazing people. Nikki & Jill are my role models, I look up to them and pray that one day I have what they have. They’re incredible! Rose is one of my very good friends, she’s hysterical. The only person I don’t really know much about is Mikey. I think that anyone who has shared this experience – whether it’s one season of their lives or another season – we’re women and we’re going through this amazing opportunity to share our stories and come together to be a part of this amazing show, you’re gonna bond in a way that I don’t think other people can understand.
It’s somewhat of a traumatic experience.
It is. I look at these people and they are like instant family. Everything that I’m going through right now, they understand because they’re going through it with me. There’s nobody around me that isn’t a part of this cast that’s going to understand what it’s like to have your life be completely put out there.
Are you still close with Sara?
Sara will always be a very good friend of mine. At this point she is actually more like my sister. And that’s gonna sound really gross because we made out at the end of season one, and I get it, but she is. We have so many things in common and so many things we don’t have in common. She’s like your best friend and your sister and the one you just love and the one you just want to strangle at the same time. I don’t expect for everyone to understand our dynamic or our relationship or if we hooked up or if we’re just friends, how we’ve been with the same person or if we’re best friends. I can’t explain that. I can say this much for Sara; we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things but if it ever came down to it and she needed me, I would be there.
How did the cameras effect your relationship with Kelsey?
Well, Kelsey and I were living together and the show started and obviously we were in a relationship so it was like she was going to jump on that with me because she is a part of my life. I kind of tried to warn her a bit; “This is what it’s gonna be like. Are you ready? Here we go!” She was really open to it and supportive. Kelsey is so young that she didn’t necessarily have any sort of career going where this could hurt her in any sort of way so she was pretty much supporting me. Not to mention that I am kind of the one that has been taking care of her, so I don’t think at any point was there a voice that she had to sort of tell me what not to do. I think that you are going to see a whole lot of stress on the relationship. We went through a lot. The months of filming fell during one of the biggest life changing experiences I’ve endured — because of the show and not because of the show. Just because of my own personal growth. That for some reason it ended up being right when we were filming that I decided to have all these epiphanies and change my world.
Can you talk about what they were?
Definitely. You’re going to see the battle that I go through with my drinking and with getting older because I turned 29 this year, what I want from my life and where I am and where I’m not putting myself in the best situation for where I want to be. Where I want to be in a year from now. Like, becoming an adult. The cameras catch me like really becoming an adult. That sounds so cheesy but for some reason I just went through this major change and they were there. So going through this change and trying to change my life; plus having the cameras there and plus having a girlfriend there that doesn’t know what the hell is going on was so difficult! I’m either going to look like the most depressed, psychotic, crazy bitch this season or, hopefully, people have some sympathy and they understand that it was a lot.
Where did the nickname Tenderomi come from?
This is kind of funny. So I have dated like one man in the last five or six years that I’ve been out. You’ll probably see him on the show, he’s a very good friend of mine. He was just one boyfriend that I’ve in my many years of not. He’s my token. When we were dating he would say, “Oh Romi, you’re so tender,” because I’m so emotional and soft. In an emotional, sappy kind of way. Then there was the song from Bobby Brown that was called “Tenderoni.” [Romi starts singing “Tenderoni”] His friends would always say that and make fun of me and say, “Oh, we’re gonna call her the Tenderomi.” And so it just stuck and they started calling me T.R. So when I had to create a blog about what I love and everything that was kind of my world, I thought what better than to kind of sum of what I am, which is kind of… Tenderomi. So, it’s based off the Bobby Brown song Tenderoni.
So what inspired you to create your own beauty-health-love advice blog, aka Tenderomi.com?
Honestly… last season that damn feather that I wore! I’m not taking a lot of responsibility for being the first girl to wear a feather earring, because I wasn’t. But I was one of the first people that was on television wearing the feather earring. So, obviously everybody started wearing that damn feather earring. I mean, even to this day – I had to put a blog just yesterday that said “no more.” We’ve officially killed the feather earring, let’s put it down. Let’s put the bird down! Every lesbian now has the one eared feather and… we need to say goodbye! When I saw these trends sticking out, I realized that clearly there’s a look. There’s some sort of a look here that people either make fun of or copy or like. I’ve been a make-up artist for like the last ten years, I’ve worked in fashion, I’ve done everything you can think of when it comes to beauty and fashion. Wholesale, buying, make-up artist, stylist, everything. I was like, “Well, why don’t I start a blog that is like, everything me?” I have these amazing followers and people that support me on Facebook and are my fans and are asking me questions like “How do you wear your beanie like this?” and “Where do you get your clothes?” So I decided I was gonna make a blog so that I could show everybody what I think is in style or is not in style.
For all the girls that are watching the show and are following me and have been awesome and supportive, they don’t necessarily live in L.A. or in a city where they can go down to their local boutique and get like all these trendy clothes. They’re not in that mix. So I can do a blog that reaches all these girls that are in all these different places that’s kind of letting them see a new designer or a new look. Here’s what’s going on, here is a lesbian night that’s happening, here’s Dinah Shore, here’s a lesbian DJ. I wanted it to be a place for my friends so I could put their links up, because a lot of my immediate friends here in this community in L.A. have their own companies or are doing their own projects; so I could just kind of have everyone together. If you go to the blog, you can do and find a DJ or a chef or the party to go to and I’m going to write about all of it.
I brought on Rachel – who’s on the next season – is now doing a hair portion on the blog to start giving out hair advice because she’s a hairdresser. I want it to ultimately be a place that all these amazing women in my life can come together – because we’re all in this industry in some aspect – and give girls all around the world a little taste of us here and be able to have access to it.
What are you doing for work these days?
Through the show I’m working with Showroom L.A. – which is a showroom downtown in the Cooper Building – and I’m representing men’s clothing and working as a sales rep with my boss, Dawn. I’m also working on my jewelry line, like, 100%. I can honestly say that Hija is where my heart is right now and I’ve never felt more invested and in love with something. It’s my first time creating my own company that’s just mine, I’m designing it. My business partner, Vanessa, and I are making jewelry a lot of the time! Really trying to get it out there and hope that people love it because we love it. It’s called Hija por Vida, which means daughter for life. We’re both Mexican so we wanted it to be in Spanish; to respect our moms and it’s in honour of my father who passed away who was Mexican. For our parents. So we called it daughter for life and we are honestly, putting every last dollar and hour that we have in to trying to get it off the ground. That’s my main focus.