With the second season of her TV series, 'HawthoRNe,' set to return to TNT on June 22, Jada Pinkett Smith is having one fabulous month.

Not only is the Baltimore native currently gracing two covers of Essence, including one where she appears nude, but she also's a producer, with husband Will Smith of their son Jaden's latest film,'The Karate Kid,' and together, they are also producers with rapper Jay-Z on the Broadway musical 'Fela!,' which is nominated for 11 Tony Awards

For her work on 'HawthoRNe,' Pinkett Smith won the 2010 NAACP Image award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series.

As the new season begins, changes are installed for Christina Hawthorne (played by Pinkett Smith), Chief Nursing Officer heading a group of nurses at Richmond Trinity Hospital in Richmond, Virginia.

Black Voices caught up with multi-tasked actress as she spoke about the series, 'The Karate Kid,' helping 'Fela!' attract more audiences, and her future work behind the camera.

What's different this year compared to season one?

Jada Pinkett Smith: This year is way different. We've revamped the show quite a bit. I felt like I really wanted to push it a bit more this year dramatically and comedically. I wanted to ground it a bit more, what's happening in hospitals today. There's a lot more romance this year than there was last year. So it's definitely a new show.

What's it like playing a tough talking nurse with a heart of gold?

JPS: Well, it's funny because it reminds me a great deal of my mother. My mother worked in an inner city clinic. For many years [she worked] in a women's clinic there and it's one of the reasons that I was drawn to this particular project. It reminded me a lot of my mother and she was a single parent as well, raising a pretty rebellious teenage daughter like myself. But I find it to be a lot of fun and I think that with Christina the audience is going to see many more colors of her this year. She's going to be funny and she's going to be outrageous, tough, vulnerable, all of those many, many different sides of Christina really pushed more so than what we saw last year.

You're also an executive producer on the show. So what did you learn from the first season that you hope to improve on in the second season?

JPS: In season one I kind of really fell back and wanted to see what the audiences really wanted. I needed a minute. It'd been a long time since I'd been in television and so I needed a minute to kind of evaluate to find out what audiences were responding to and what they weren't responding to so that I would know in my second season which direction to go and what to push. Last year I really kind of followed the lead of some of my other producers and kind of sat in the pocket with TNT and kind of looked and paid attention. Then this year my husband and I came in with a really strong point of view that was pretty much dictated by how audiences responded to certain shows that we did last year. So this year Will and I really made a point to craft a show that we felt like our audience wanted to see.

Are you going to get some more input from nurses in terms of storylines?

JPS: I did so this year and we'll probably do it even more so next year. There are quite a few things that I took from real life circumstances as far as a lot of our medical cases and certain kind of more personal trials that nurses were dealing with in their jobs and personal lives at the same time that I did bring into the show. I think that next year what I'd like to do is dive into that even a bit more than we did this year.

Now that you've had one season off the ground is there a better chemistry with you and the rest of the actors on the show?

JPS: Oh, for sure. I think this year we really got to solidify our relationships and so I think you definitely see this year more so than last year just a comfort level that we're all getting with one another. We have some really great guest stars that are coming on this year that we're just phenomenal. We had Marc Anthony that came on for two episodes. We had Debi Mazar. She came aboard and quite a few other actors that came on 'Hawthorne'. We had some real phenomenal performances this year.

I see that there's a reunion between you and Vanessa Bell Calloway. I recall the two of you worked years ago on 'A Different World.'

JPS: Yeah. Vanessa was there with us for I want to say eight episodes which was great. It was really great. She's actually my headache this year which is fun.

June seems to be a great month for you. You're executive producing on Jaden's film, 'The Karate Kid', as well.

JPS: Yes. 'Karate Kid' comes out June 11th and the show premieres June 22nd and hopefully June will be a very successful month for the Smiths.

While Taraji P. Henson does an excellent job, why didn't you take the role of the mother yourself in that film?

JPS: There was a lot of talk about me playing the mother for 'Karate Kid'. That was the original plan and I just felt like my son needed me to be he his mother on such a strenuous project. I really felt like he was going to need me more in a mother role for real than playing one in front of the camera. I felt like production wise I was going to be needed as well. I really felt like I made the right decision on that end. It was a very, very, very difficult shoot and I think that it was the right choice. In all honesty I really feel like Taraji [P. Henson] did a better job than I ever would have. She's absolutely phenomenal in the role and that was the best decision to make.

Are you going to New York for the Tony Awards in support of 'Fela'?

JPS: Oh, absolutely. We'll be there for sure.

With 11 nominations, that show has gotten a lot of attention. What made you and Will want to come onboard and promote it?

JPS: Well, I've always been a huge 'Fela' fan and we got involved because they needed our assistance as far as production wise and we saw the play, we saw the musical and we were just blown away. We were just completely blown away and we felt that it was art that we wanted to support and be a part of on so many different levels; to participate in a production that was illuminating the life of this activist, this great activist and musician and also giving so many African Americans the opportunity to be on Broadway and to perform. So for us we just felt like it was our responsibility. I mean that's why when you've had the opportunity to help in that way, we feel as though that's what we're here to do. We're here to serve in that way. So for us it was a no brainer.

Do you plan to get back on the big screen as an actor and do you plan on directing again?

JPS: I plan to direct again. I really enjoy being behind the scenes these days. I really feel like I'm always going to act in some capacity but my love and my passion at this point is to be more behind the camera. There's a project that I'm hoping to be able to direct this time next year. So we'll see. There are a couple of projects that we have on the table that we're pushing for and so we'll see how it goes. Right now I have my hands pretty full. If I could get just the juggling right; my husband is about to do a couple of movies and Jaden and then my daughter, her whole career is starting to blossom and bubble as well. It's becoming more of a juggling act for me than before. As a mom and a wife I just try to figure out how to fit it all in.

Any plans for the Essence Music Festival coming up?

JPS: We have a little surprise that we're doing, that Angela (Burt-Murray, editor-in-chief of Essence) and I will be doing at the Essence Festival. So I'm excited about that.

What are you planning on for Will for Father's Day?

JPS: We try to remind him everyday of what a great dad he is and what a great husband he is. So Father's Day I'll probably take him away with just he and I because we haven't been able to do that. I don't know if that's as much of a Father's Day because the kids won't be there but that's what I plan on doing for him for Father's Day, he and I going away for a couple of days to just have some mommy and daddy time.

Here's an exclusive clip from Season one, which comes out on DVD June 15th.