How does 'Love & Hip Hop' star Erica Mena know the Kardashians?
If you thought VH1's 'Love & Hip Hop' was Erica Mena's first stint on reality television, then you'd be wrong. The popular reality star might have become a household name thanks to her long stint on the hit reality show, but long before starring on 'Love & Hip Hop', Erica was a part of 'Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami', a spinoff series of 'Keeping up With the Kardashians'.
Before Erica got hitched to Safaree Samuels and settled down in Atlanta to raise her family, the feisty Latina was a sales associate at the Kardashian sisters' clothing boutique- Dash. Erica was hired by Kourtney Kardashian for the role, after a common friend referred her. The oldest Kardashian sister instantly hired Erica. Although both the ladies got along really well, unfortunately Erica didn;t last for too long on the job.
Erica's blatant unprofessional attitude such as coming in late to the work, cursing the customers, and taking personal calls while she was on the floor, rubbed the Kardashian sisters the wrong way. In fact, one of the episodes in the first season of 'Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami' was dedicated to the sisters firing warnings at Erica asking her to get her act together else risk getting fired.
The Kardashian sisters learned the hard way that Erica wasn't the one to take orders from anyone, as she continued to be her unprofessional self. So, Erica was eventually let go off from her job. Although the 'LHH' star may have lost a job, she found her passion. She enjoyed her brief stint on reality television and was looking forward to getting more of it. Despite being fired from her job, Erica holds no grudges or bitter feelings towards the Kardashians, as they gave her the exposure.
In a 2014 interview with Vlad TV, Erica revealed that she was not only good friends with the Kardashians but also thanked them for giving her a taste of reality television, and teaching her how the entrepreneurial world worked. "Working for them for the year that I worked with them was the best year of my life,” she said. “I got to not only study how they take the simplest things from a bottle of water and put Kardashian on it and are able to sell but how they’re still able to keep family [as] the reason that they do all that they do," shared the reality star.
Even the Kardashian sisters don't seem to have anything against Erica despite being a terrible employee for them. In 2018, Kim Kardashian took to her Instagram to send birthday wishes to Erica. Kim wrote, "I love you. I hope you have the best day. Dash doll forever.”
The four-part ‘Love & Hip Hop: Secrets Unlocked’ special will premiere on Monday, January 4 at 8 pm ET/PT.