Past
Orphaned by her parents, left with just a brother in the world, and an unknown heritage other than "middle eastern" Nalani and her brother Rami were raised in London by a lovely couple in the immigrant inhabited area. While not idyllic, it wasn't bad either. She had Rami, and he was all she needed. Everyone needs a older brother to protect them. While not inseparable, they were close, with a bad habit of wanting to copycat what Rami did, in as much as she could do it. He learned Arabic, she fiercely and undauntingly did it with him when she was 13, practicing to wrap her lips and tongue around the strange burbling language. Something they could both chatter away in and not need their adoptive parents knowing what they were discussing.Unlike Rami she wasn't that uncomfortable with their life, and the visual difference between them and the adoptive parents. She could only imagine what life would have been like if it hadn't turned out the way that it did. She did like him though, adopt a middle name that was to their heritage. Amal, meaning hope.
It was the awkward period of the teenage years, that her ability came to the surface. But it wasn't known. Things started coming easily to the young girl, requests, commands, desires sometimes filtering her way, sometimes not. With it came a measure of popularity. The girl in school that other girls always flocked to, despite their position in life and circumstance of how they came be. Within a few years, walking the street to get home, brother at her side, Nalani was approached by a Ford modeling agency recruit. He'd seen in her something that he liked, there was an open call, be there. So it was, her first step into the pool of the modeling world. The small hitch was that she would have to go to New York. How to do that, their adoptive parents couldn't go. The solution? Rami. He wasn't about to let her go alone, and promised that he'd go, take care off her, see that she was safe. Fate also saw to it that he was accepted to pre-law in Cornell. Things were set, visa's procured via the company and the pair were off. It was here that her career started to take off, partly in thanks to her ability and also to another ability. Common sense and business sense that were situated in her brain. A one year contract with Ford came to an end while they were there, and instead of sticking with them, she and Rami looked around, shopped new agents and managers. Wasn't hard, not with an ability that could and would persuade someone to take a chance on her. It got her what she wanted, it was up to her now to keep it.
She rose through ranks, never quite achieving supermodel status, but she was known for her level head, no showing up drunk, high or late for her shoots, she did the necessary showing up at parties but left to get proper sleep. People found her agreeable, sometimes a little demanding but not in such a way that they wouldn't accommodate. When someone tried to screw her over, she took her body elsewhere, and never worked for them again, and made sure that word of mouth spread about the antics of whomever it was. Rami was by her side when not in school, shuffling her to and fro, her bodyguard for all things considered, protecting her from those who'd otherwise mob her, but also helping to ground her to the reality of her trade. Beauty is fleeting, your only pretty for so long till something happens, or someone better and prettier comes along. He helped to make sure she found a good accountant, not a dishonest one, that would invest her money wisely. She might run around in glamorous clothes, but with her brother, it was simple, and low key.
But, even bright stars have things happen. Coming out of a party one night through a side door so that they could escape the throng of people who would want autographs and pictures, Nalani and some of her coworkers were attacked. Muggers waiting for this exact moment. Things would have likely turned out different if Rami had been there, but he wasn't. Quickly divested of their jewelry, and wallets, Nalani was the only one who wouldn't demanding that the man leave them be. One of the times that the ability kicked in, but backfired. Instead of following her suggestion, the guy in charge became further enraged at the audacity of the skinny bitch to not follow his orders. Someone bolted off to get help, a fight ensued, and Nalani was hurt in the process when she fought back. Not the kind to take something laying down. She was hit with a baseball bat, one of the other models being shot before the perps ran off. Eventually they were caught, and their day in jail. Nalani's upper arm though was broken, severely, to the point that she needed surgery and no plastic surgeon in the world would be able to minimize the scar. But it turned out that it was not that big a deal. The story of what happened and the scar only made her that much more popular, and she capitalized on it.
The attack took a toll on Rami, kicking himself for not being there when she needed him. But she easily forgave him, he can't be by her side twenty four hours of the day. But she moved on, and so did her Brother. Eventually, Nalani tired of the preening, the constant traveling and scrutiny of her life, her body and the schedules. Money wisely invested, and the judicious application unknowingly of her ability, she decided to start up a Magazine. It was somewhat avante garde in its approach and had a uniquely sharp and slick design and feel. It was marketed towards young professionals and had info for everything from architecture to fashion to food. She continued to model, but on her own terms, not on anothers and retained her manager to manage that part. She also released her own line of Middle Eastern inspired jewelry. The modeling tapered off though, not from demand for her looks but because in an effort to better understand the running of a magazine and to make her plan reality, she enrolled in university classes, determined to educate herself in business management. It went off with very little hitches and soon she proved that, while she had a body, she had a brain to go with it and graduated near the top of her class. Finally, she could make Pause reality, help from investors and fellow models. It became a hit, starting small and building upwards and outwards to an east coast circulation then west coast as well.
When the bomb hit, Nalani's focus for PAUSE changed. She used her clout and ability to establish charities and help rebuild places, especially those near her magazine's headquarters. She ran many stories of personal courage and promoting the various charitable organizations in her magazine and the overall price point of the items they promoted came down. The magazine has begun to slowly return to its former upper middle class demographic, but the magazine had taken on a more philanthropic bent. Things were never going to be as they were and the magazine had to change to reflect that, reflect the change in it's target demographic. To promote charity and recognize others in the target community instead of promoting it as a status symbol. With the bomb as well came the recognition that possibly all her good luck was something more than good luck. Investigations, private investigations into it revealed this to be true. She had the gene for it. She chose not to register though, knowing, imagining the devastation this would bring to her career. She hinted at it to her brother, asking his opinion. It's strained their relationship, but only in that facet. He's never asked what it is that she can do, and since she discovered, she's never tried it on him. On others, yes, but not him.
To this day, "Pause" has been profitable, Nalani's become a formidable woman in her own right through the use of her mind, wit, and no small amount of credit to her ability. There's rumors abounding that she's been offered a television deal, that she's selling her magazine while it's still profitable to go back to modeling, everything you can think of. But she's not, and enjoys the speculation and hearing the rumors about herself.
Present
Though her ability was not quite the secret that she tried to keep it, due to running afoul of a company agent in a coffee shop, thanks to her relationship with a company agent - her brother - She was kept out of the black hole that is level 5. At his request that she not use her ability, she accepted but eventually had no choice but to go to his employers when she was figured out by a criminal who broke into her place and needed their help to keep it unknown about her ability for fear of what it would do to her company.
The relationship between her and the company worked out well and when she had another issue - Adam Monroe blackmailing her after spotting her on a company run for information - they set up a trap to try and catch him. What came of it she never knew, She called his bluff when he made a demand of her and she did the opposite of what he wanted.
With the relocation of the Company to an undisclosed location, Nalani was present the day that the building was destroyed. At the witnessing of the gunning down of her brother, the Magazine Mogul seems to have withdrawn from public, and rumors have it that she's gone to London for an indefinite amount of time, leaving her magazine in the capable hands of it's board.
