Karrine Steffans

From humble beginnings on the twenty-mile island of St. Thomas to New York Times best-selling author residing in Los Angeles, Karrine Steffans has come a long way. Details of the first 25 years of her complicated, yet, thrilling former life and lifestyle are captured in the pages of her memoir, Confessions of a Video Vixen.

Steffans was once a sought-after sexy siren who appeared in the music videos of multi-platinum hip-hop artists such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and LL Cool J. A top-paid video dancer, Steffans transitioned to film when acclaimed director F. Gary Gray picked her to co-star in his film A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel. But the movie and music video sets, swanky Miami and New York restaurants, and trysts with the celebrities featured in the pages of People and In Touch magazines only skims the surface of Steffans' life.

In Confessions, Steffans goes beyond the glamour of celebrity to reveal the inner workings of the hip hop dancer industry.  This memoir—part tell-all, part cautionary tale—shows how Steffans came to be the confidante of so many, why she kept their secrets, and how she found herself in Hollywood after a life marked by physical and emotional abuse, rape and drugs, all before she was 26, that’s rampant in the industry. By sharing her emotionally charged story, she hopes to shed light on an otherwise romanticized industry.

Since Confessions debuted in June 2005, Steffans and her enthralling story has been on the lips and minds of most everyone. Among many other media outlets Paula Zahn, Donny Deutsch, Tyra Banks, Bill O’Reilly, and the queen of daytime herself, Oprah, have sought Steffans and helped propel her into the limelight.

With her newfound success, Steffans finds joy in paying it forward. A constant at university speaking engagements and celebrity panels, she fights vigorously to raise the awareness of young women across the world to the dangers of the entertainment industry and their own neighborhoods. She encourages young women to speak out against abuse, to halt the cycle of it, and no longer abuse themselves. Steffans uses her past as an example of what not to do and instated The Karrine Steffans Girls Club to give women of all ages a safe place to go in order to express their anxieties and support each other.

Steffans has also formed The Karrine Steffans Book Club for aspiring authors and The Steffans Commentary on MySpace, dealing with current events in the news and in her personal life. The Steffans Foundation, her non-profit, is an avid supporter of Amnesty International, PETA and The Boys & Girls Club of America. Steffans does all she can to support to and bring awareness to these causes.