Kandi Burruss is celebrated for her Georgia roots and "worldwide" branches.
The songstress recently announced she closed the door on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but she is returning to Broadway as a producer of the upcoming revival of the 1974 play The Wiz.
"We already knew we were going to be doing The Wizwhen we were working on The Piano Lesson at the top of 2023 before it was ever announced that we were going to put The Wiz out or that we were doing auditions," Burruss exclusively tells OK!. "We knew what our next thing was with Broadway."
The "No Scrubs" writer co-produced the newest Broadway edition of August Wilson's The Piano Lessonalongside her husband, Todd Tucker. As a married couple, the Tuckers have collaborated on critically acclaimed performances, and continue to showcase the importance of building Black generational wealth in the south.
"It's great that we could do things together, but just like everybody else, we bump heads," the mogul admits. "When you have a teammate in life, you really go hard for that person."
"It's kind of good to have somebody that I can depend on that I know we work hard to make our projects do what they need to do," the reality star notes.
The Wiz will return to Broadway on Friday, March 29, and the entertainer will continue to film The Chiand is preparing for her next project.
Before working on Tony-nominated projects, Buruss made a name for herself in the girl group XSCAPE. As the Grammy winner navigated the music industry during her teens, she began to educate herself on how to become a businesswoman.
"My group came out when I was in high school, and being a senior and hearing my music on the radio, I could've easily been like 'Oh forget this,'" the Bravolebrity confesses. "But my mom was always telling me, 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket.'"
"I never wanted to be one of those people where you hear about childhood success stories gone wrong. You hear about [child stars] that were making money as a kid and then they go bankrupt as they get older," Burruss adds. "As a teenager, I started reading a lot of financial books to try to help me figure out how to maintain where I was."
Burruss is often celebrated for her ability to juggle multiple ventures, but some fans don't know that she played a pivotal role in the success of another R&B ensemble: Jagged Edge.
"I was still in a group, but I wanted to learn how to manage artists," she reveals. "I was only 19 managing Jagged Edge, and I started managing them and eventually got them their deal."
"That was my first time having success outside of my group," she continues. "At the same time, I realized management was not for me. Jagged Edge blew up and they became a successful group. I'm glad I was able to help them, but I realized I need to figure out my own situation before I could manage somebody else's."
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Aside from her work in the music industry, Buruss often roots for her girlfriends pursuing careers in her field. During the Christmas holiday, the multihyphenate starred in Whatever It Takes — which was produced by Basketball Wives star Tami Roman.
"Tami Roman and I are very cool with each other," Burrus shares. "She reached out to me and I was like,' I really need you to play this part.' And I was like, 'oh.' When you're cool with somebody, you just got to be like, 'Wait a minute, is this gonna work with us being friends?'"
"It actually turned out to be an amazing project," she continues. "We had great chemistry, and I was so glad I did it because I feel like this movie really allowed people to see me as an actress and see my range."