Tanola Jackson, Star Writer

STAR of the month, Yendi Phillipps, got a chance to interact with some of her fans for two hours via the Internet and telephone at The Gleaner Company's North Street offices recently.

A vibrant and very pleasant Yendi arrived promptly, only to find that a huge number of her fans had already logged on to the Internet.

The reigning Miss Jamaica World tried her best to answer as many questions as she could within the hour as fans had logged on from all over the world.

Some of the questions asked were about her being the new host on Digicel's Rising Stars, while others complimented her on the great job that she had been doing so far.

At 5:10 p.m., Yendi answered her first caller, a male who sounded a bit nervous when he realised that it was her on the other end.

There were many hilarious moments, for instance, one female caller who said, "Yendi, mi look up to yuh, yuh a mi idol, an mi look up to yuh fadda too, di MP fi my community."

Then Yendi, who was obviously clueless as to what the female caller was talking about, asked, "Who's that?" and when the female caller responded, "Peter Phillips", there was an outburst of laughter inside The Gleaner offices.

Another caller, who also took the time to pray for Yendi, almost moved the 'Star' to tears.

When asked what she thought about the outcome of the online and phone chat, Yendi said, "Good really good. The men are hilarious, the most entertaining came from the men, they asked for my number, where I live and wanted to take me out.

"Women had very positive and very inspirational messages. There was also people offering their support and prayer which makes me feel good that I have touched people," she added.

Star of the Month Yendi Phillipps talking on the phone to fans during a call-in session at The Gleaner Comnpany's North Street Offices in Kingston recently.

Taken from the Weekend Star, Thursday July 31, 2008.