What is Yandy Smith's net worth?
Yandy Smith is an American music producer and reality television star who has a net worth of $12 million. Yandy Smith began her professional career working in the entertainment industry as an Executive Assistant at Violator Management. Yandy Smith has gained national notoriety as one of the most popular cast members on the VH1 reality television series "Love & Hip Hop."
Early Life
Yandy Smith was born on March 19, 1982, in Harlem, New York. She graduated from Howard University in 2004.
Early Career
Yandy Smith began her professional career working in the entertainment industry as an Executive Assistant at Violator Management. Her clients included such high-profile musicians and entertainers as Missy Elliot, 50 Cent, and LL Cool J. In 2005, just a year after graduating from college, Yandy met rapper Jim Jones while on a private jet that Russell Simmons had chartered. She quit Violator Management to become Jones' full-time manager.
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Love & Hip Hop
In 2006, VH1 approached Jones about doing a reality show centered around him. An 11-minute trailer for the proposed show called "Keeping Up with the Joneses" was made, but VH1 was unconvinced. Yandy then approached Mona Scott-Young, her mentor from Violator Management, and Mona changed the concept to turn it into what became "Love & Hip Hop" by bringing in Jones' girlfriend Chrissy and her friends. Yandy first appeared on the reality show during the first season when Chrissy and Jim got engaged. It was an uncredited cameo.
Yandy Smith joined the main cast of "Love & Hip Hop: New York" in season two. Her main storyline involved the issues and problems she had while working as the manager of Jim Jones. During that season, her professional relationship with Jones implodes, and she gets into a fight with Chrissy at a nightclub in Miami. Jones and Chrissy ended their relationship with Yandy after that.
Yandy went on to work as a consultant at Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records, and Columbia. Then, she teamed up with her former Violator Management boss Mona Scott-Young, to form Monami Entertainment. Yandy is a talent agent at the company. In 2008, Billboard named her one of the "Top 30 Executives Under 30."
Yandy is also involved with the lifestyle brand Everything Girls Love, where she is part-owner, President, and Brand Manager.
Yandy also appears in an episode of "Love & Hip Hop Atlanta: After Party Live!" as a guest star in the spin-off show "Remy & Papoose: Meet the Mackies" and in the specials "40 Greatest Love & Hip Hop Moments," "Dirty Little Secrets," "The Love Edition," "Love & Hip Hop Awards: Most Certified and 40 Greatest Love & Hip Hop Moments: The Reboot."
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Personal Life
Yandy Smith has two children with real estate developer Mendeecees Harris – a son named Omare Harris (born on July 16, 2012) and a daughter named Skylar Harris (born on January 26, 2015). On May 25, 2015, Yandy and Mendeecees were married.
Yandy fostered a girl named Infinity Gilyard and eventually officially adopted her.
Yandy's husband has two children with two other women. His first baby mama, Samantha, met him when she was 19. They dated for three years and had a child but broke up after Samantha discovered Mendeecees was cheating on her. He met his second baby mama, Erika, in 2003, according to her, or 2009, according to him. Erika is his messiest relationship because he got her pregnant after he was officially dating Yandy and after he hired her as his children's nanny. Technically, Erika is his third baby mama.
Yandy has a strained relationship with Mendeecees' baby mamas, which exploded into a vicious feud with the women fighting for custody of Mendeecees' oldest children, Mendeecees Jr. and Aasim.
In January 2013, Mendeecees Harris was arrested on charges that he molested a 15-year-old girl. If convicted, he could face as much as 20 years in jail. Mendeecees has also been accused of being part of a three-man drug trafficking organization. The three men allegedly trafficked $2.5 million worth of cocaine and heroin between 2005 and 2012. Yandy has adamantly defended her fiance on numerous occasions and has even called out specific bloggers and websites that she thinks have been particularly unfair or inaccurate in their reporting. In 2016, Harris was sentenced to eight-to-ten years in prison on drug trafficking charges. He was released from prison in January 2020.
On July 14, 2020, Yandy Smith was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, during a protest outside of the attorney general's office over the death of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police officers. Taylor was shot and killed in March when police entered her home during a drug raid. The police were in the wrong home; the correct one was 10 miles away, and the suspect was already in custody. As of July 31, 2020, the officers who killed EMT Taylor have not been arrested or charged with her death.
In mid-July 2020, Smith posted a sweet tribute to her Instagram account for her son Omere's eighth birthday. She wrote: "Everything perfect about me came out in you. My flaws missed you by far. You're kinder than most, compassionate, you live and walk in truth, you're funny, really funny. You hurt when people hurt, you love hard. You were the man of the house for so long and you did it well. You had to grow up fast and look at you big boy…YOU'RE 8 now!!! We love you so much!!!"
In late July 2020, Yandy posted a four-minute video on her Instagram account during which she opened up about some nightmares she's been having lately. She said: "It's six o'clock in the morning, and I'm just waking up from a horrible nightmare." She went on to describe that she woke up thinking federal agents were breaking into her home to kill her and her children. In her dream, she heard the agents say they entered the wrong home. Yandy also revealed that she's been having anxiety attacks as a Black mother living in the social climate of 2020.
