Rocsi's Rising Star

Rocsi Diaz, the Honduran co-host of BET’s 106 & Park, lives like a rock star and spends her days talking to some of the hottest celebrities on the planet—everyone from Barack Obama to Lady Gaga and Madonna. Not bad for a girl who describes her high school self as "an unpopular nerd.” The 25-year-old hip-hop lover spoke to Kidult.com about her recent interview with Chris Brown, the hardest thing about her job, being a Latina on a Black television network, and overcoming an eating disorder at a young age.

In your interview with Chris Brown, which aired last night, did you find him to be genuinely sorry and remorseful for his violence towards Rihanna?

We asked him that question, and Chris is being genuine. He just hides behind his lightheartedness to cope with what he’s dealing with. It’s something that nobody could imagine. It's not so much because of the situation, but because of public perception,and public opinion, which is the biggest punishment that you can have when you’re a celebrity. And I think that that’s what’s really hurting him the most. He’s being genuine in every interview, but he just hides behind his lightheartedness, which really in my opinion, wouldn’t be the best idea. But in my interview, when we sat down with him, he explained that and he was very genuine and he was very, very sincere.

So you feel like he is sorry for what happened?

I think he is sorry for what has happened and what has transpired. I think he feels guilty that he has done something so bad to somebody that he really truly loved. And not only that, but he’s taking the steps that he witnessed as a child too and mimicking what his stepfather did to his mother. So I do believe that he feels bad, I believe he’s remorseful, but I think its going to take him time to really understand and realize the extent of what his damage was. At the same time, you’ve got to remember that he’s a kid. You know what I’m saying? He’s not an adult facing these problems—he’s a kid who’s in the limelight and has to not only deal with this situation publicly, but also privately.

How does your show manage to stay fresh and popular when other video countdown shows like MTV’s TRL are going extinct?

We survive because we never change our brand. 106 & Park has evolved with the times, but we never change who we are. We always stay the same. We never go truly outside of what we created as a brand. We stick to playing the top 10 videos, stick to playing hot music, and we have the greatest celebrities that come by. We’ve extended to doing the movie premieres and things like that. We have fun, and it’s very interactive. We cater to our youth. We are all about the kids, and the issues they’re dealing with right now. Like we have a teen violence show that’s coming up on Monday and that’s something that’s just going crazy right now nationwide.

What is the hardest thing about your job?

Trying to please the masses because you can’t please everybody. So we just try to do what we can and be relevant. Some people are so critical of what I wear. Being able to wear the right thing and making sure everything is right is the hardest part of my job [Laughs].

Are you interested in acting?

I am. I just finished shooting my first acting part on the sitcom Brothers. It’s going to air closer to Christmas, but I was so glad they brought me on!

Tell us about your charity Rockstar Rebuild?

It helps rebuild schools that were damaged in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. We want to help rebuild schools worldwide if possible. We will be focused on countries like Haiti—and I’ve talked to Wyclef about that—and schools in Central and South America.

You were born in Honduras, but moved to New Orleans at an early age. What was it like growing up in New Orleans?

For us, New Orleans was a big city. It’s all immigrants and African Americans in a great gumbo pie! That’s what New Orleans is—a bunch of different cultures and different sounds and life. It’s fun, it’s a great city to grow up in and I loved every minute of living in New Orleans. It was also an artistic atmosphere, and a cultured city with arts and music—from the French quarter to the jazz musicians that came up from there.

What were you like as a teenager?

I was a nerd! I was not cool. I was kind of athletic so I was on the cheerleading team, and I was on the soccer team. The soccer team in my high school was really close and we all hung out together, and that was a group of multicultural kids: Black, Spanish, Arabic, White—everybody was on the soccer team. I like the fact that I was part of that circle.

Sounds like you grew up in a very diverse place?

Completely. I actually prefer it that way. With my upbringing, I never saw race. I never stereotyped or segregated people with race.

So you must’ve been surprised when people began to judge you for being a Latina on a Black network.

Yeah, completely. Because nobody knew that I was Latina before I was on BET and did five years of radio. It was urban radio, and I guess nobody really cared what I looked like because I was on the radio. It never mattered. Which is such a great thing because it wasn’t a big deal. I knew hip hop, I knew my music, I knew what I was talking about when I was on the radio, and then I come on TV and people see my ethnicity and judge me on just that. That was kind of heartbreaking.

What was your dream job when you were a teenager?

When I was younger I thought I was going to be like some corporate lawyer or marine biologist working with Shamoo in Sea World. I didn’t think I would be in the entertainment business.

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

I probably would’ve started college courses sooner.

With fame, comes rumors. How do you deal with that aspect of your job?

At the end of the day, you know the truth and you know you. And rumors come and go, and sometimes they live with you forever and it is something that you have to deal with. Personally, if you feel like it’s something that you don’t want to talk about, just say no comment. You stay your ground. But you never let that get you down or let it get the best of you. It’s hard to deal with, but you have to be the bigger person. I believe in karma, so what goes around comes around. The same people spreading rumors and saying false things about you, it’s going to come back to them.

Did you suffer from an eating disorder when you were a young girl?

Yeah. It was something I went through in high school that I think a lot of young ladies go through. I opened up about it, because I realized I wasn’t the only one dealing with the situation. And it’s such a stigmatism that only white girls go through it, and that’s not true. When I opened up about it, there were a lot of young girls that came up to me and they were like “Rosci, I dealt with the same thing,” or “I dealt with body image issues.” It was something I opened up about to possibly help save lives. It wasn’t for media attention.

What advice would you give to someone dealing with an eating disorder?

You have to learn how to love yourself no matter what. You have to learn your body type. You have to learn to eat healthy. You have to learn what a healthy weight is. You have to sit down with doctors and specialists and know where you are supposed to be. Everything that you see in magazines and on TV is not exactly what it is. I don’t wake up with hair and makeup. I wake up looking crazy, my makeup artist and hairstylist do a fabulous job on me. But I don’t wake up with that. I think a lot of young people’s image is of what they see in magazines and on TV. They don’t understand that it’s weaves, it's touchups, it’s photoshop and it's all sorts of things. I’ve had magazines enhance my breasts and my butt and that’s not me. Body image is something that we deal with—girls and guys, and we just got to learn how to love ourselves.