[Si] TV

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Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, I was the chubby kid with the hot best friend who got all the boys to trip over their themselves just to play handball with her. I remained this way well into high school and by the time I reached college, any thought that maybe I was kinda cute myself was watered down like sugar free jello.

Then in 2001 I went through some drastic weight loss and people started telling me I had nice skin, nice hair, nice curves and "Hey Lauren, you should try modeling!" WHAT? Me, a model? Get the fug outta here! Not only am I short (in model standards), high-heels are my arch nemesis; I don't like them and they don't like me, there's a clear understanding. "Editorial modeling, Lauren!" I came to find out that meant catalogues, advertisements and things of that nature; the ordinary people model stuff. I thought to myself, Self! You might just be able to pull this off.

In 2003, I linked up with a photographer named Nathan Blaney. He needed work for his portfolio and I needed, well... work. I met up with Nathan in the West Village and while at first the thought of taking photos with a complete stranger freaked me out, I was quickly aware he was in fact a cool and talented dude. Three hours later I had a full photo spread and agreed to shoot again in the future. We would work on a TFP basis (trade for photo). He gave me copies of my photos and I signed away the rights to them.

More than four years later, I'm still friends with Nathan and we still shoot from time to time. Most of my work came from the first two years and what it evolved into was my face showing up all over the place. Nathan places his photos on istock.com where they are bought for all sorts of work throughout the world. I've been seen on med school pamphlets in California, Photoshop Magazine, Pregnancy magazine (no, I wasn't preggers, they just used a photo of me on a phone which made no sense), and God knows where else. It's always fun and suspenseful to wonder where I'll end up next. But, the BEST photo placement had to be the pic below.

 My girls Judie and Tanja both called me from discount stores (one in the BX and one in Queens) on different days, their voices frantic, and shouting that my face was on a pair of peds. Yes, peds. The kind you wear with penny loafers. How glamorous. It was hysterical. Especially when Judie showed up at her cousin's baby shower with the package in hand, going around the room and telling everyone there was a celebrity in the house. All I could wonder is if the peds would stretch far enough to cover my tomato red face!