KIMORA LEE SIMMONS: Finally Facing Her 'Reality'

By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices

Something I've been waiting for the past few years will finally see the light of day:

Kimora Lee Simmons on reality television.

This morning, The Style Network announced plans to premiere a self-titled reality series fashioned for the ghetto fabulous fashionista.

The show, with the working title of 'Kimora,' is set to debut this summer on the niche digital cable channel -- a spin-off of E! Entertainment geared towards young women.

"Kimora Lee Simmons is simply a fascinating woman," said Style's Executive Vice President Salaam Coleman Smith, in announcing the show. "She is refreshingly blunt, absolutely honest and outrageously entertaining...the kind of woman who knows what she wants and how to get it. Nothing she does is small, nothing she says is insignificant and nothing she wants is unavailable."

Lee Simmons, currently separated from hip-hop music pioneer Russell Simmons, has become a formidable player in the hip-hop fashion business ever since being discovered at the age of 13 by designer Karl Lagerfeld. From her sensational modeling career, the St. Louis native is credited as being the only multiethnic woman to have a successful fashion empire and lifestyle brand which includes fragrance, cosmetics, beauty, and home collections.

With her Baby Phat brand -- a spin-off of her hubby's Phat Farm fashion empire -- the half-Japanese/half-African American clotheshorse has helped make the term "phat" a household name. She is also the author of the inspirational/lifestyle guide 'Fabulosity: What It Is and How To Get It' and established the Kimora Lee Simmons Scholarship Fund at her St. Louis alma mater, providing college tuition support for academically successful girls with financial needs.

TV viewers got a taste of Lee Simmons' 'fabulosity' via stints as a guest judge on an early season of best friend Tyra Banks' mega-successful 'America's Next Top Model' competition, and as a co-host of the short-lived 'Life & Style' daily talk show.

Reality TV-wise, she owned every scene she appeared in on MTV's popular 'Run's House,' and even was the subject of her own VH1 TV special with 'Inside/Out',' which chronicled her history-making fashion show at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

What can we fans expect from the new show?

Viewers are invited along for the ride as she leads her company to new heights of success, from product launches to press tours to high fashion events. Her adorable two daughters, seven year-old Ming Lee and four year-old Aoki Lee are also apart of the program. And of course the family's New Jersey estate.

"This series is going to open a lot of women's eyes to the possibilities life has to offer, and all of us at Style are happy to be working with such an inspirational woman," Coleman Smith added.

Can't wait for this.