Joseline Hernandez is an entertainer originally from Ponce, Puerto Rico. She endured a rough childhood within the public housing system of Puerto Rico, being exposed to drugs and prostitution at an early age. She moved to Miami, Florida with her family at the age of six. From the age of sixteen, she began stripping in order to provide for her family. During this time, she was arrested in 2003 and 2007 under the name Shenellica Bettencourt, for lewd and lascivious behavior. She danced at the Diamond Cabaret, where she filmed a failed television pilot for Showtime, and at the King of Diamonds, with fellow cast members and . She eventually relocated to Atlanta, and was discovered by while performing as a stripper at the Onyx Club.
This is the fascinating, somewhat troubling calculation and conflict of Joseline. On one level she knows she is being manipulated to generate drama, much of it unflattering. On another level, she focuses only on getting money. For Hernandez ― who grew up poor in Puerto Rico and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, lost her father to drug abuse, and started stripping at an early age to take care of herself and her family ― the manipulation of her image is in no way a deal breaker. It’s a means to an end. It’s a matter of survival.
