Nikki Exotika

1990–2009: Trantasia and Jerseylicious

Nikki Exotika started her modeling career off mainly doing runway, while she began her musical career as a member of the girl group "Secret" (stylized as S+E+C+R+E+T).

In 2006, Exotika starred in the documentary film Trantasia. A few years later in 2008 and 2010, Exotika made appearances on Maury and Jerseylicious, respectively.

2010–12: Music career

On July 15, 2010, Exotika announced that her second single "Fantasy" was going to be released and that she had already started work on her third single. She was working with Harry Rockafella during this time. On November 14, Exotika made a post on Twitter stating that her third single "Hypnotized" was currently being finished. Neither of these singles were ever released for unknown reasons.

In 2011, Exotika made a guest appearance on the "Judge Jeanine Pirro" show while suing a man, whose name hasn't been released to the public, over trying to break a recording contract with him that required her paying him $15,000 when he didn't hold to his side of the agreement. The business relationship between the two started when Exotika met the anonymous man over the summer. Exotika had already wrote her hit single "Secret Girl" before hand, and decided to let him record her singing the song in his personal recording studio. The man claimed he worked with Christina Aguilera on her album Stripped (2002) along with working on a remix for Britney Spears, Exotika believed him. Judge Pirro advised Exotika to find evidence proving he lied about his work on the contract and to also find what her damages from the case were. Several months after the episode, Exotika released her debut single "Manwhore" on October 21, 2011. This was shortly followed by the release of her second single "Electric Touch" on November 14. Nearly half a year after the air date of Exotika's episode of the "Judge Jeanie Pirro" show, her third single "Secret Girl", which was the subject of the lawsuit, was released on March 15, 2012, onto digital outlet iTunes. The release of the song indicates that the issue must have been resolved. Secret Girl was given rave reviews and racked up quite a few views on YouTube.

Although Exotika announced that she would be releasing a book, in a vlog dated September 10, 2012, she stated that it wouldn't be released due to her feeling she doesn't have enough notoriety to find a publisher.

2013–14: Focus on acting

Exotika performed a medley of songs including a cover of Kesha's "Die Young", "Electric Touch", and "Manwhore" at the night club XL on February 1, 2013, at the release party for her music video.

During an interview in May, 2014, Exotika hinted at a reality show possibly being in the works. Saunders was set to appear on E!'s television show "Botched", which is meant to correct plastic surgeries, but after multiple complications, her episode was cut. Exotika has stated that she thinks this is due to the show's doctors being unsuccessful in their attempt to fix her previous unsuccessful surgery, while the show's producers claim they aren't show Exotika's episode because she was "difficult" to work with. She has expressed how she is furious over the whole situation. Her fourth single "All Lined Up" was released on June 9, 2014, to online outlets. An accompanying music video was announced and released on to VEVO on September 12, 2014. A bundle with remixes of the song was exclusively released onto Exotika's website on September 13. The song was performed at Queens Pride the same day. The song impacted radio stations with its radio premiere being on 96.7FM Vegas on September 21.

In an interview, Exotika announced that she was hopefully getting her own spin-off show called "Secret Girls" after "Botched" aired, along with a role in the film adaption of "Jem and the Holograms", and that her new single "All Lined Up" was coming out soon. Exotika's scenes from Botched were never aired due to claims from the show's crew saying that she was "difficult" to work with. Exotika responded saying that they were only saying that to try and cover up for them botching her breast augmentation, which left her unable to work for several months. In an episode of BarcroftTV, Exotika announced that she was still continuing work on her girl group "Secret Girls", and was working with vocal coach Renee Stakey. A potential singer named Mimi auditioned and is being considered.

Exotika is currently attempting to create a girls group consisting of only transgender women. In an episode of the web documentary "Barcroft TV", Exotika cast singer Mimi Nutwood.

2015 to present: Secret Girls and continued success

Exotika and her band the "Secret Girls" made their live debut at NYC Pride on June 28 2015. They performed the set a second time the following day. A demo of their reality show "Secret Girls" was premiered several weeks later in July on YouTube. Exotika has stated that they are currently pitching the show. Rhonny Tufino, who directed the video for Exotika's "All Lined Up" , directed, edited, and shot the "Secret Girls" reality show's demo. Exotika released the cover art to her unreleased song "Fantasy" on July 2, with no statement as to whether or not she was still releasing it.

The Secret Girls along with Exotika individually have signed to Transcendence Icon Company, a modeling, acting, and singing management company directed at helping transgender people with their careers.

Secret Girls

Secret Girls is an American girl group consisting of only transgender women created by Nikki Exotika. The current lineup consists of Exotika, Raquel Star, Eleet, and Jazlene. The group made their debut on June 28, 2015 at NYC Pride performing a two song set consisting of covers. They are currently working on new music and pitching a reality show to television networks called "Secret Girls".

Career

The group originated around 2007 while under the name "Secret" (stylized as S+E+C+R+E+T) with Exotika along with now former members Felicia and Shayla. Exotika announced their departures in a video blog in 2007. In 2008, Exotika announced that her and a revised version of S+E+C+R+E+T were performing together again.

They are currently scheduled to make their debut public performance at NYC Pride in 2015. The same day the announcement came, Exotika also announced that the current members are Jazlene, Eleet, Raquel Star, and herself. They give an interview to Sirius XM show "Opie with Jim Encore" on June 25. They performed "One Last Time" (originally by Ariana Grande) and "Secret Girls (Pretty Girls)" (Originally by Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea) at NYC Pride on June 28. They performed the set at Pride a second time the next day.

Nikki Exotika, member and founder of the band, released the demo for the Secret Girls' reality show "Secret Girls" on her Facebook page. She also revealed that they were still offering the show around to television networks. A teaser for their cover of "One Last Time: was released onto their official YouTube account on August 3. The video also announced that their website was coming out soon and would feature some special releases including the full version of "One Last Time" and a cover of Taylor Swift's US #1 hit "Blank Space".

Member Elina Garcia professionally known as Raquel was announced by Exotika to have departed the group. There has so far been no explanation on why she left the group. Singer Alissah Brooks was announced as a potential replacement the same day. The group along with Exotika individually has signed to Transcendence Icon Company, a modeling, acting, and singing management company directed at helping transgender people with their careers. Alissah Brooks and Kelly Milholland were announced as new members of the group in late August. Exotika announced that the group had a headling promotional tour that would commence in 2015 called "The Secret Girls Promotional Tour".

Artistry

Secret Girls commonly cite The Spice Girls as their lead musical influence while taking visual inspiration from The Pussycat Dolls.

Current

Nicole Sanders (real name Nicole Sanders) is an American EDM/Pop singer-songwriter and actress from New Jersey. Exotika began her career at age 18 as a fashion model and doing shows at the Xtravaganza house under the name "Nicole Xtravaganza". She eventually switched her focus from modeling and dancing to acting and music and released a total of five singles, starred in the film Trantasia (2006), and made a number of television appearances on shows including Jerseylicious, Maury, The Tyra Banks Show, and Explosiv, among others. During this time, Exotika spent nearly a decade from 2006 until 2015 perfecting her idea for an all transgendered women girl group, this time saw several line up changes and a name change from Secret (stylized as S+E+C+R+E+T) to Secret Girls. In 2015, after going on a search through the internet, casting calls, and audition videos, Exotika was finally able to decide on a line up consisting of her, Raquel Star, Eleet, and Jazlene.

Jazlene Ban better known simply as Jazlene, is an American singer who originated from California. Ban is believed to have been added as a member to the Secret Girls in 2015.

Eleet Lucheonnie is an American singer who originated from New York. Lucheonnie is believed to have been added as a member to the Secret Girls in 2015.

Brooks is an American singer who was announced as a new member to the group in late August, 2015

Milholland is an American singer who was announced as a new member to the group in late August, 2015

Former

Raquel Star (real name Elina Garcia) is an American singer who originated from Texas. Garcia is believed to have been added as a member to the Secret Girls in 2015. Garcia also speaks Spanish. Fellow member Nikki Exotika announced Garcia's departure on her Facebook account on August 11, 2015.

Tours

External links