Model Emira D’Spain is joining the cast of Bravo’s new show Next Gen NYC, making her the first ever full-time transgender cast member in a show on the reality TV network.
The series was announced on Tuesday, complete with a two-and-a-half-minute-long trailer. Newsweek confirmed that same day that D’Spain will be the first openly trans person to appear in an official main role on any Bravo show, with a spokesperson for the network noting that it was “important” for the series to “highlight the diversity and authenticity of this generation.”
The basic premise of Next Gen is that the children of various Bravo stars are now all grown up and Taking On The Big Apple™. But don’t worry — while four people out of the 10-person cast are Real Housewives progeny, the other six, including D’Spain, are newcomers.
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
D’Spain might be new to Bravo, but she’s been in the spotlight for a minute. In 2022, she made history as the first openly trans Black woman to serve as a spokesmodel for Victoria’s Secret, and also served as the beauty director at Paper. She’s garnered over a million followers on TikTok with beauty tutorials and “get ready with me” videos.
Though D’Spain’s social media presence is polished, she seems more than willing and ready to be the kind of chaotic reality TV personality that we all live for — at least according to her posts on Instagram and TikTok, both of which have captions about her being “messy.” (Her closing line in the Next Gen trailer? “Ugh, I love being messy.”) She’s yet to comment directly on making reality TV history, but that’s in line with the way that she exists as a public figure anyway.