Wendy Raquel Robinson is a “Glam-ma” in TV One’s "Here We Go Again"

Wendy Raquel Robinson is back at it! Barely off of her run as sports agent Tasha Mack on the BET series The Game, Robinson has landed the role of sassy grandmom aka “Glam-ma”, Loretta Walker on TV One’s comedy series, Here We Go Again. Set in Atlanta, it features three generations of women negotiating life on their own terms. Loretta raised her daughter Maddy (Letoya Luckett) as a single mom after having her when she was sixteen. Maddy, now thirty-two and a successful lawyer, also had her daughter Shante (Kyndall Ferguson) at sixteen. Shante is now sixteen years old and Maddy is afraid that she will fall victim to what she has termed the “Walker Curse” and also get pregnant at a young age. Perhaps that anxiety plus having a little too much to drink at her daughter’s “Sweet Sixteen” party clouds her judgment. Maddy lowers her guard and spends the night with her daughter’s father, Victor (Andra Fuller). She soon finds out that she is pregnant. The family gets together to discuss the situation and Maddy decides to keep the baby. Complicating matters further is the fact that Maddy is in a serious relationship with the charming and madly in love Cedric although she is taking plenty of time before consummating it. So, there is bound to be plenty of Baby Daddy drama between Cedric and Victor should Cedric decide to stay the course.

Robinson says the main things that attracted her to the show was her character, Loretta who is a top real estate agent. "It explores the life of a woman that is parallel to what I’m going through.” She adds that, "Not in terms of having children but we’re the same age and I always look at things like, ‘what would I do if I were in this particular situation? And her being a grandmother at forty-eight and still having her life and living her life and still being sexy and sassy and funny but also a matriarch of the family.” In addition, she feels the show explores the issue of teen pregnancy in a novel way. “I feel like we’re on the cutting edge of something that is so special and so different. Something I haven’t seen on television.” Another reason she was excited about doing the show was the team behind it. "I’ve worked with the producers before. We’ve done like four projects together." she explains. A bonus was the relative ease of attaining the role. At this point in her career after having been in the business for so long, paying her dues, and proving to be a consummate professional she sometimes does not need to audition for her roles. She shares that, "It was a straight offer. That always helps.” She laughs, “I hate to audition. I hate auditioning. It’s vomitous.”

Robinson has been working steadily in television and film since 1994; something truly remarkable in Hollywood where many actors go for long stretches without working. Not surprisingly, she was modest about it saying, "I love what I do and when I do it, it’s like I love everybody I’m working with. I’m humbled. I do it because I really love what I do. I don’t know if that’s the thing that separates me. I have seen other actors not be humble, grateful. It’s like, really? You’re bitching and whining over this that or the other? It’s like, let’s just play. I feel like I am still playing in my sandbox.” As to the sort of advice that she would give to anyone just starting out in the business now she states that, " I would love to tell them to think outside of the box. Everything used to be very formulated. You get your picture, you get your resume then you get your agent then you go in and you audition.” She explained that nowadays, things are much different pointing to the example of Empire's Jussie Smollett who she says simply DM'd Lee Daniels, the show's Creator and Executive Producer. This led to Smollett ultimately landing the role of Jamal Lyon. “Think outside of the box. There are so many other opportunities that you can create and don’t think that you have to relegate yourself to what’s on television or what’s the hottest new director. Create your own way. Don’t say I can’t get a job. No you are the job. You can create your own work. You are your own masterpiece. "

She also has a very sanguine outlook when it comes to opportunities for Black women in television. "There are so many more avenues in television. All of these up and coming networks are developing content and they need more material.” She credits the exponential growth of television outlets and the ensuing increased demand. She agrees however, that perhaps more needs to be done to create greater opportunities for black women in film.

As to her health, Robinson has a slight advantage over many of us. She actually likes the elliptical; indicating it is her “go to” exercise. She says, " I love the elliptical. Forty-five to fifty-five minutes will go by like that because I will decompress. I’ll answer all my emails. I’ll learn my lines. Whatever it is that I need to get out of my head, I clear my thoughts. Get it all out of my system and boom, done. So it’s not for vanity it’s for my sanity and I really mean that. I suffered with fibroids for a while and it helps a lot.”

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