An Audience with Tracee Ellis-Ross

Despite a chilly, grey and drizzly Tuesday evening, a gathering of well groomed and dressed ladies and gents (including moi), have braved the weather in support of Tracee Ellis-Ross who will be promoting her new sitcom Reed between the lines in which she not only stars, but produces.

Huddled in the lobby of The May Fair hotel's Crystal Rooms, we all eagerly awaited an intimate evening of drinks, canapes and Q& A's with the delightful Tracee Ellis-Ross. A chatter of excitable women looking as though they were awaiting the long overdue reunion with an old girlfriend or sister, the admiring comments can be overheard from a couple of gents observing the publicity poster behind security featuring Tracee. 

Once doors open, we make our way down the stairs greeted by champagne at the bottom (ahh this is the life I beam to myself). As I take in the proceedings with a few friends, a modest list of who's who join us and eventually after an opportunity to enjoy the drinks, canapes and mingle, we are all ushered into the Crystal Rooms' auditorium. Once seated we are warmly greeted by the CEO of Soul Marketing (the organisation responsible for this wonderful evening), then eased to a pleasant surprise including a raucous comedy routine by the hilarious Felix Dexter and rendition of Born Again by Rene Byrd.

Before long, the moment we have all been waiting for................(drum roll)..... an introduction to the delectable Ms Ellis-Ross. Stepping onto the stage, she elegantly slips off her tuxedo style jacket to reveal a 50's inspired strapless monochrome print dress and 'to-die-for' red suede YSL pumps (*drooooooooool*). She mics up, takes a seat and the cameras and camera phones snap and flash away like crazy.

Having found fame through one of her better known roles as Joan Clayton in the long running US series Girlfriends, you can tell that a lot of the women in the auditorium felt as though they were sharing an evening with a girlfriend. Ms Ross was engaging (even asking for the house lights to be turned up for the duration of the evening so she could see everyone),warm, funny, down to earth and inspirational. Definitely and a great role model, who despite a legend for a mother, has certainly paved a path for herself.

Reed between the lines starts on BET on Tuesday 15th November 2011 @ 8.30pm GMT