Florina Kaja
Florina "Flo" Kaja (born September 1, 1982)[1] is an American[2] reality television personality, singer and actress native to Staten Island, New York. She is mostly known by her stage name "Flo".[2] Kaja was a participant on season 4 of Oxygen's Bad Girls Club. During the show, she became a LGBT rights activist.[2]
Florina Kaja | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, U.S. | September 1, 1982
Years active | 2009–2014 |
Known for | Bad Girls Club, Bad Girls All-Star Battle |
Relatives | Drita D'Avanzo (cousin) |
At the time of its airing, Kaja's episode Go With The Flo became one of the most watched episode of the Bad Girls Club, achieving 2.27 million viewers.[3] Kaja has appeared on The Tyra Banks Show[4] and her television special Bad Girls Club: Flo Gets Married aired on Oxygen on February 28, 2011. Kaja was a contestant on Bad Girls All-Star Battle and the runner-up of Season 1.[5]
Kaja is "the first Albanian Muslim woman ever to be on a reality TV show". She is the third bisexual that has appeared on The Bad Girls Club after Sarah "Cordelia" Carlisle and Ty Colliers. She is also a strong believer of Allah.[6][7]
Early life
Kaja was born on September 1, 1982 in Staten Island, New York as the second child and younger daughter of Albanian immigrant couple Sakip Kaja (1953–1990) and Safija (pronounced 'Sophia'). Kaja's father's brother, Verdi Kaja, who was shot three times by accused killer Carmine Carini, was an Albanian gangster and was found dead when Kaja was 8 years old.[7] Kaja attended Curtis High School up until her sophomore year and graduated from New Dorp High School in 2000.
Bad Girls Club
Kaja was a participant on the fourth season of the Bad Girls Club which aired from December 2, 2009 to March 31, 2010 on Oxygen in the United States. Kaja was nicknamed "Flo" prior to her season of the Bad Girls Club by her friends and family.[6] Kaja first starred in Season 4, in episode one, "Off The Wall" and came out to her roommates as a bisexual.[6] Kaja then became the third "bad girl" to ever be openly bisexual.[6] Kaja was then injured after an altercation with Amber McWha during the seventh episode, but she later recovered before she voluntarily left the show during the tenth episode.[6] Kaja stated, upon exiting, that she felt that the other roommates did not care about her or respect her life. During the reunion, Kaja stated that she left so she would not physically harm anyone.[6]
After The Bad Girls Club, Kaja continued to appear in interviews. Kaja also appeared in the Bad Girls Club special entitled Top 10 OMG's in Bad Girls Club History which aired a week after the part two reunion show of the fifth season had aired.[4]
Television special, marriage and pregnancy
Bad Girls Club: Flo Gets Married was a one-hour special that centered on Kaja's traditional Albanian wedding to Patriot "Pat Coso" Kosovrasti and her pregnancy. It aired on Oxygen on February 28, 2011.[5]
Kaja met Kosovrasti at a Staten Island club and instantly became inseparable, after finding out they were both Albanian-Americans.[7] Within months the two decided to get married. Kosovrasti's mother Angie, sought out Kaja as the antithesis of a traditional Albanian house wife and disapproved of her "bad ways" stating that Kaja was not the daughter-in-law that she had wanted.[7] The entire event leading up to Kaja's marriage was taped and broadcast on Oxygen. The television special garnered 0.85 million viewers, outperforming season one and some episodes of season two.[8] While preparing to get married, Kaja and Kosovrasti found out that she was pregnant. Kaja gave birth to her first child, a girl named Elliana Kosovrasti, on July 1, 2011.[7]
Bad Girls All-Star Battle
In 2013, Kaja was selected as one of 14 past Bad Girls Club cast members to compete in the first season of Bad Girls All-Star Battle, a challenge show where all-stars compete for $100,000. She made it to the final episode of the season, where she ended up first runner-up to Jenniffer Hardwick.
Filmography
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2009–2010 | The Bad Girls Club[4] | Appeared in 13 episodes |
The Tyra Banks Show[4] | Appeared in 2 episodes | |
2010 | Bad Girls Club Top Ten OMGs (season 1–5) | Bad Girls Club special |
2011 | Bad Girls Club: Flo Gets Married[8] | Television special |
2012 | Sinister | Murder Victim |
2012 | Tanisha Gets Married[8] | Bridesmaid |
2013 | Bad Girls All-Star Battle[9] | Runner Up |
2014 | It Follows | Amber (Small Role) |
Discography
See also
Notes
- U.S. Public Records Index, Vol 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
- Florina "Flo" Kaja. "Florina's biography". Goin'WithTheFlo.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
- Robert Seidman (February 10, 2010). "More ratings highs for Oxygen's "Bad Girls Club"". TV By The Numbers. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- "Florina on Internet Movie Database". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
- "Oxygen Media's "Bad Girl" Is Entering Uncharted Territory in "Bad Girls Club: Flo Gets Married" on February 28 at 9 pm ET/PT". The Futon Critic. February 9, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- "Episode 1 "Off The Wall" Season 4". 1. Season 4. Episode 1. Los Angeles. December 1, 2009. 60 minutes in. Oxygen. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
- "Bad Girls Club: Flo Gets Married". Bad Girls Club. Season 1. Episode 1. February 28, 2011. 60 minutes in. Oxygen. Archived from the original on February 26, 2011.
- Gorman, Bill (March 1, 2011). "Monday Cable Ratings: 'WWE Raw' Leads Night; 'Skins,' 'Being Human' Rise + 'Pretty Little Liars,' 'Cake Boss' & More". TVbyTheNumbers. Zap2it. Archived from the original on March 3, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
- Olson, Lauren (April 15, 2013). "The OFFICIAL Bad Girls All Star Battle Cast (in GIF Form)! | Bad Girls Club". Bad-girls-club.oxygen.com. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
- "Florina's discography". Goin'WithTheFlo.com/music. Retrieved February 6, 2011.