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Star Flack

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It wouldn't take Higgins long to indoctrinate herself. When Nelly was kicked out of Union Station in 2002 for wearing a 'do-rag (a clothing item the mall considers to be gang-related paraphernalia), Higgins cast herself into the role.

"In our life, it's not about gangs, it's about fashion," Higgins told a reporter for the Post-Dispatch. "My eleven-year-old white son wears 'do-rags."

At the Starbucks at Hanley Road and Wydown Boulevard, Mark Wilder is trying to get Higgins' attention. Wilder, who used to be general manager of the hip-hop station Q 95.5, wants Higgins to represent a local rap act named First Draft that is part of his Innovative Music Network. The group has recently signed a record deal with Def Jam, and Wilder thinks Higgins could get the group press in national publications such as Vibe, Blender, Rolling Out, Rhyme and XXL.

The problem is Higgins has other concerns today, as her cell phone keeps ringing to an annoyingly loud tune called "Jazzology." Each call throws her in a different direction. O.G. (a.k.a. Original Gangsta), a bodyguard to Nelly and the crew, is calling from California to check up on Higgins. She ends the conversation reminding him to call her more often. "Holler at your girl. Okay. Bye!"

Next it's Jim Brown -- yes, the Hall-of-Fame football player -- on the phone. For the past three months, Higgins has been helping Brown establish his Amer-I-Can program for at-risk youth at Vashon High School. Brown will be in town the next day to participate in a celebrity golf tournament, and he's looking to arrange some last-minute details. If that's not enough, someone representing Willie Mays -- yes, the famous baseball player of yesteryear -- has called and wants Higgins to help him get some new publicity.

Higgins' help doesn't come cheap. Her business, FYI Public Relations, charges between $1,500 and $5,000 in retainer fees per month.

When the phone goes silent for a moment, Higgins' two assistants, 22-year-old Arelia Jones and 24-year-old Alaina Gordon, walk into the coffee shop.

Jones, who hopes to find a career in the music business, has worked with Higgins for two years. In many ways she is the calm to the storm that surrounds Higgins. Quiet to the point of reclusive, Jones serves as a mobile secretary for Higgins, reminding her of appointments, returning phone calls and running errands. She is also a huge devotee to the world of hip-hop music and serves as Higgins' tutor, informing her which artist is with which label and teaching her how to pronounce and spell the names of clients such as Damion "Damizza" Young, an LA-based hip-hop producer (for the record, it's pronounced DA-miz-za).

Gordon, a tall buxom blonde from Oklahoma, has recently dropped out of medical school to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. She has worked with Higgins for just a few weeks, but already Higgins thinks she'll go far in the industry based on her looks and smarts.

For the next 30 minutes, Higgins plots out her team's schedule for the next two days. There's the golf tournament, a dinner for Senator Maida Coleman and, oh yes, the Trackboyz need to get tickets to see Dave Chapelle at the Pageant.

When the girls are at last dispatched, Higgins returns to Wilder, who has read the invite to the golf tournament at least a dozen times since losing Higgins' attention.

"Okay, about your group. I just don't know. I've really got my plate full right now."

Wilder thanks her for her time, even though he had just waited some 45 minutes for this simple answer.

"Well, you were the first person we came to. We know you did such a good job with Nelly and the Lunatics," Wilder says.

The truth is, Higgins does have a lot going on right now, but she could probably fit Wilder's group into her schedule. It's just that she's too tired, and what if, on the off-chance, First Draft hits it big? Higgins just doesn't have the energy to go through it all again.

"Nelly and the Lunatics made me who I am, and they came along at such a horrible, horrible time in my life. I owe everything to them," Higgins says. "But now the pendulum is starting to swing back to the center, and I kind of like it. I have the time to pick and choose who I want to work for, and more importantly, I have more time to spend with Ian."

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