TEXT BY CANDACE CORDELIA
Maxxine Dupri is a woman of many talents, including being the face and designer of her very own clothing range, JAUNTY. And, as the Alpha Academy stable member told me in an exclusive interview for PWI (excerpted in our June 2025 issue), she has her mom to thank for giving her the name of her apparel brand that’s become a sensation with her fans and wrestling peers alike.
“My mom is extremely creative,” began Dupri. “She is my ChatGPT. If I am like, ‘What’s a cute catchphrase? What’s this?’ … and my mom will have 15 [off] the top of her head. I don’t know how she does it. She’s very, very creative.”
She continued, “I knew I wanted something that started with a ‘J’ because the middle names in my family all start with a ‘J.’ My mom sent me a bunch of different options, and jaunty was one of them. I’ll read you the meaning of it because when I had it I was like, Oh — this is it!”
Reading from her phone, Dupri then recited the definition of the word “jaunty” as “having or expressing a lively, cheerful, and self-confident manner.” She added, “I just felt like that was exactly what I wanted my brand to embody even as it evolved. Through each step, that always aligned.”
And just like that, JAUNTY was (and continues to be) JAUNTY. But, when Maxxine’s not busy trying to get in Natalya’s good graces and working hard in the WWE ring, she’s constantly thinking of new ways to bring her brand to the next level.
“Because I have a creative mind, I will wake up one day and be like, JAUNTY needs a perfume! My brain is always going 100 different ways, and then next week I’ll be like, Wait, is that a good idea?”
She admitted, “To be totally honest … I’m a really big goal setter. I always set goals for the business with followers, profit, all of that kind of stuff. I always write out different goals for each year. But I think for where the brand actually evolves … my success in that realm has come from letting that happen authentically and letting it flow as my life flows, and let it grow with me. It’s not something that I have pinpointed, but it’s something that I’m always thinking about. And honestly, if I wasn’t getting married so soon [to WWE NXT wrestler Anthony Luke], I would have done a whole bridal line.
“There’s some brands, like ALT SWIM is one, where they make amazing bikinis and they embroider your new last name on them. So many cool things for bachelorette parties and honeymoons, and I am so inspired by all of that. I don’t know what’s next for JAUNTY, but I’m excited to see where my life goes and what that means for JAUNTY.”
Check out the full conversation between Maxxine Dupri and PWI’s Candace Cordelia (including relevant stories about Chelsea Green and Nikki Bella) in the video below.
