Dr. Melanie-Penny Harrison Bella Maori Maori

Now available worldwide, Ugly Philosophy: Beauty, Absurdity, and the Black Feminine Paradox by Dr. Melanie-Penny Harrison (Bella Maori) can be purchased or accessed through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, Smashwords, Bookshop.org, Fable, Tolino, Everand, BorrowBox, and bookstores and libraries served through Gardners. Readers across the globe can discover this provocative exploration of beauty, identity, race, gender, and embodiment through their preferred retailer, eBook platform, or library service.

Available for podcasts, interviews, lectures, and speaking engagements to discuss her book, Ugly Philosophy: Beauty, Absurdity, and the Black Feminine Paradox, and her doctoral dissertation, Mirrors of the Reel: Black Women's Identity Formation and Cinematic Resistance in American Film (2009–2024). Topics include beauty standards, Black women's representation in media, identity formation, colorism, philosophy, film, culture, and contemporary social issues.

To book me please reach out to my PR Manager:Stephen Yokey

Start 2 Finish PR/ Public Relations Office for Bella Maori

Media Relations & Publicity: [email protected]

Dr. Melanie-Penny Harrison, performing as (Bella Maori) is not a conventional podcast guest — she is the kind of voice audiences remember long after the episode ends. A writer, philosopher, performer, and cultural critic with a PhD of Philosophy, her life bridges worlds that are rarely discussed together publicly: academia, Hollywood, Playboy culture, sex, philosophy, performance, and Black femininity. Ugly Philosophy: Beauty, Absurdity & the Black Feminine Paradox, exposes the hidden contradictions behind beauty, intellectualism, identity, stigma, and public performance. Drawing from her experiences as a scholar, Playboy, cam girl, Hollywood, she speaks with honesty about secrecy, reinvention, survival, desire, class, race, and the emotional cost of living multiple identities at once.

Dr. Harrison delivers what great podcasts need: compelling storytelling, viral conversation topics, emotional vulnerability, intellectual depth, and bold perspectives that generate audience engagement. She is especially well suited for podcasts focused on culture, psychology, memoir, women’s issues, philosophy, entertainment, taboo experiences, social commentary, and unconventional life paths. Her interviews are designed to provoke thought, spark conversation, and leave listeners questioning the assumptions they have about beauty, morality, success, and identity.

Notable appearances• Cam Girl Diaries (2023) She appears in an episode titled “Playboy Playmate, PhD Scholar & Cam Girl Bella Maori”, where she discusses balancing academia, Playboy modeling, and adult content creation, along with stigma and stereotypes.• Crushgasm Podcast (2022). Ep 75: “Bella Maori’s College Crush – A Professor…”She talks about a college professor relationship story and also discusses her creative project Ugly and her experience in Hollywood and Playboy modeling.• World Gone Geek Podcast (2022) A long-form interview featuring her work as a writer, actress, and filmmaker, including her independent project Ugly and her early modeling/acting career.• WorldWide Entertainment TV Podcast (2022) Ep where she discusses Playboy, Hollywood, Baby Keem collaboration work, and her film projects.

To book please reach out to my PR Manager:

Stephen Yokey

[email protected]