My Life Story

​Welcome to my brand new website! I was born in Buffalo, New York. When I was a little girl I wanted to travel the world. I would sit for hours in front of a map and dream of all the places I would visit one day. I also would dream of joining the Peace Corps because I wanted to help the world and its people from poverty. It was something I dreamed about and knew it was my life's mission. I grew up in a very large happy family. There were 10 of us all together including my parents. My parents were married very young. It wasn’t easy for them but I remember being happy and had lots of siblings to play.

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When I was 16, I went to a parade with my brother and little sister when a man approached me. He was holding a camera. He told me he was a model scout and that I should be a model. He gave me his card and said call him if I was ever interested. I kept it and a few weeks later I was reading the local Buffalo newspaper and saw a picture of the photographer that approached me surrounded by some of the biggest models in the business.

I showed my parents the article. We scheduled a photo shoot and he mailed the pictures to Elite modeling agency in New York City. Next thing I knew I was flying to New York with a big modeling contract. Coming to New York and working with the largest modeling agency was thrilling. I was finally able to travel the world! It was a dream come true.  Since I loved culture so much, I would always stay in a foreign country after the modeling shoot was over to understand the land and the people. I kept a diary because it was fascinating to me that what was beautiful in one culture was completely different in another. It was truly was how you felt about yourself as opposed to how you looked on the outside.
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Traveling through Asia, I was inspired by eastern spirituality. I read everything I could about meditation, visualization and started journaling. I started taking yoga classes. The yoga classes and the books really helped ground me.  I went to see a book publisher with a few photographs and my diary about the beauty of all cultures. They gave me a book deal and I was elated. I worked on it day and night. It was a labor of love. It took me over a year to finish my book “Naturally Beautiful.” The book was well received and became a best seller, an amazing experience but I needed to rest.

I decided to leave New York for one week and go to a yoga ranch in Massachusetts called “Kripalu Yoga.” There were no phones allowed, you could not read a paper or get on a computer. They wanted you to remove yourself from the outside world and concentrate on yourself and yoga. It was truly a life changing week for me. I was able to meditate, eat healthy and do two yoga classes a day. I read many books. I learned the meaning of RITUAL and how important it was to practice it in your life. I would wake up early, do 10 minutes of silent meditation, 10 minutes of journaling, 10 minutes of affirmations, and 10 minutes of visualization and then I would go to my yoga class before starting my day.

When I got back from that relaxing week, everything in my world changed. I married the wonderful man I had been dating, and got a terrific job. We bought a gorgeous loft in Manhattan, and a few years later had my amazing daughter Lucia. I also published another book “Nature’s Beauty Secrets” and have been producing and working in television. I know now how important the morning is and now I do an evening ritual (10 minutes of gratitude for the day and visualization before sleep) are to me and my wellbeing. You cannot be effective in your work and in your family life unless you are happy and relaxed. I also love the ritual of making my own beauty products and also buying organic beauty products as much as possible.

Through unconditional love and healthy beauty rituals, I find the peace and beauty inside of me. I am able to see my beauty and the beauty of others clearly now. It is truly comes from the inside and radiates out to the world. Get up an hour earlier and try these rituals and see if it doesn’t make a difference in your world. Please try our 100% certified organic soaps in the beauty shop section for your next beauty treatment. Namaste!