Jeannie Mai Is So Much More Than a Miss USA Host

Miss USA is upon us, and once again, I know nothing about any of the contestants representing our great States. Luckily, commentator Jeannie Mai will be on deck to take us through all the behind the scenes chatter, meet the contestants, and interview performers throughout Sunday’s broadcast. But who is Jeannie Mai and what qualifies her to walk-and-talk us through America's other biggest beauty pagaent? If you’re not a frequenter of the Style Network or Extra, then you might now know that Jeannie is a seasoned TV style pro who regularly visits daytime and nighttime talk shows to offer style advice, and hosts multiple shows of her own.

Jeannie’s own website is “getting its nails did” right now, so we dug up a few more things to know about what makes the pint-sized style expert a self-proclaimed “wearapist.”

She started with a trademark

Jeannie originally made a style splash with her ever-evolving blue hair.

But as her prominence in the style industry has grown, she's transitioned back to a more neutral color (and passed the blue on to her mom). She’s kind of like P!NK in that way.

Speaking of kickass 2000s music, Jeannie got her start as a celebrity makeup artist on shows like Total Request Live, and working with individual clients like Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keys.

She’s an old TV pro

Mai first transitioned into fulltime hosting on USA’s Character Fantasy in 2005. Hardly as tawdry as it sounds, she inspired new guests each week to live their fantasies. She went back to her MTV roots with a short-lived Frankie Muniz gem, Granted, before she completed the niche TV dream team and married Freddy Harteis, host of The Hollywood Hunter, on The Sportsman Channel. Finally, it was time for Jeannie to break out on her own in the style world when she took over as host of the Style Network’s How Do I Look? And began frequent correspondent appearances on Extra with Mario Lopez.

Jeannie is the current host of Style Pop on the Style Network, but she has her eyes set on cable…

Tamera Mowrey is in her future

After an extremely successful preliminary run, Jeannie’s new daytime talk show, “The Real,” has officially been picked up for a full season by Fox, starting September 15. Like popular show “The View,” Jeannie will share her hosting duties with four other spirited ladies: Tamera Mowrey, Adrrienne Bailon, Tamar Braxton, and Loni Love.

She’s intimately involved with her cosmetics…

Perhaps an ode to Herbal Essence’s past, Jeannie recently made ever so slight waves by starring in a Too Face mascara commercial where she’s, uh, seduced by her mascara. The commercial isn’t really offensive, as much as it is silly, and as a fellow user of Too Faced's Better Than Sex...it is a good mascara!

Most importantly, she uses her last name in place of the word “my” with shameless frequency

Images: pinterest/TamaraPiranha; instagram/thejeanniemai (4)