In the early years of her career with the WWF, she managed her (then) real-life husband Dustin Runnels (known on-screen as Goldust) and was a member of the Pretty Mean Sisters alliance.

[4] When the company was purchased by Ted Turner in 1988 and renamed World Championship Wrestling (WCW), she moved to Atlanta and continued doing make-up for some of the wrestlers.

[3] Runnels debuted in the World Wrestling Federation at the Royal Rumble in 1996 as Marlena, a character modeled after Marlene Dietrich.

[3][4] She debuted as a coolly unconcerned and indifferent television director-like manager, often sitting at ringside in her director's chair.

[9] They later formed an alliance with D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry, accompanying them to the ring for a match against Venis and The Godfather in December at Rock Bottom: In Your House.

[11] In late 1999, Runnels arranged the Terri Invitational Tournament, a best-of-five series, between Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz, with the winner receiving her managerial services and the sum of $100,000.

[14] The Hardy Boyz won the tournament, which culminated in a ladder match at No Mercy (with the prize money suspended above the ring in a bag).

[15] Runnels spent the next few months as their manager, notably getting involved in a Steel Cage match between Jeff Hardy and Al Snow on an episode of RAW.

[17] The storyline, however, was rewritten, and on an episode of SmackDown!, Edge and Christian—who would now continue wrestling as a tag team—revealed they no longer wanted Runnels' services.

[18] Post-match, The Kat attacked Runnels by stripping her black body suit off to expose her nude colored thong.

[23] Saturn, Runnels, and Radicalz member Dean Malenko also had a series of matches with Team Xtreme (The Hardy Boyz and Lita).

[24] The on-screen partnership lasted until Saturn, who had hit his head during a match, opted to continue seeing "Moppy" (a mop he believed was alive) instead of Runnels.

[26] During this time, she also became the backstage interviewer on Raw and began to wrestle occasionally against the likes of Molly Holly, Victoria and Stratus.

[28] On the August 19 episode of RAW, Eric Bischoff placed her a battle royal featuring former Hardcore champions such as Tommy Dreamer, Bradshaw and Jeff Hardy.

Her final match was a losing effort alongside the returning Lita against divas Molly Holly and Gail Kim on the November 10 edition of Raw.

[3] On January 22, 2018, in the Raw 25 Years special episode, Runnels was honored as part of a segment involving women considered legends that contributed to the company's success, including Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Lilian Garcia, Michelle McCool, Maria Kanellis and the Hall of Famers Torrie Wilson, the Bella Twins, Jacqueline and Trish Stratus.

Jack professed his love for her in an interview with host Fat Man After Dark on the Future Endeavors wrestling radio show and described some of the pitfalls, even today, of a mixed-race relationship.

Runnels filed suit, accusing Jack of making libelous comments about her and requested that a court ban him from distributing sexually-explicit photographs of her.

[37] On May 29, 2019, Runnels was arrested in Hillsborough County, Florida, and charged with felony possession of a firearm after bringing a loaded gun into the Tampa International Airport.