UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON STUDENT WINS CHANCE AT MODELING IN NEW YORK

University of Wisconsin-Madison junior Rianna Hardesty learned she won the national “Next Year’s Model” contest as she walked to her Introduction to Buddhism class, providing an unusual clash of information: Earning a much-sought pop-culture prize, then studying a religion developed in the 6th century.

“I was so excited,” says Hardesty, 20, “but I was trying to pay attention, too.”

The contest stems from veteran supermodel Carol Alt and other industry execs, who chose four contestants from thousands of entrants. Hardesty, a Columbus native, didn’t enter herself — her mother, Kristen, did. Then Kristen didn’t tell Rianna about it until she was picked as a finalist.

On Thursday, Hardesty heard about her win, chosen by online voters. She receives a trip for two in February to New York City, where she will participate in a photo shoot with her picture likely landing on the cover of Alt’s book “Model, Inc.” While in New York, she will meet with a top modeling agency and receive a $500 wardrobe package.

Hardesty, who studies communication arts, is an intern at International Learning Community in UW-Madison’s Adams Hall, a dorm with sections concentrating on different languages.

She has never done professional modeling, but she was interested in pursuing it. “I didn’t think I’d get anywhere with it,” said Hardesty, a 2006 graduate of Columbus High School. “I have a friend really into photography and she would use me as her model. But that’s it.”

Hardesty’s mother will join her daughter in New York. They’ll meet Alt, and Rianna will receive the chance to break into a highly competitive industry.

“It’s an amazing opportunity,” she says. “Whatever comes of it, either way, I’ll enjoy it.”

Posted in Wisconsin State Journal on Dec 14, 2008

CONGRATULATIONS TO RIANNA HARDESTY, ON BEING NAMED AVON A’S “NEXTYEAR’S MODEL” CONTEST WINNER!

Rianna was one of four finalists selected by supermodel/author Carol Alt, LaVelle Olexa (Lord & Taylor’s senior vice president of public relations), and Mumtaz Mustafa (art director of Avon). Many voted online, and this gorgeous young woman from Columbus, WI was selected as the winner of the “Next Year’s Model” cover model search!

The grand prize winner, Rianna (and a guest) will be flown to New York City, where Rianna will stay for two nights in a four-star hotel. She will also receive a professional photo shoot; HarperCollins will consider the images for the cover of Carol Alt’s next book. The prize also includes a Lord & Taylor wardrobe gift valued at $500.

RAW ESSENTIALS - CAROL ALT’S NEW SKINCARE LINE BECOMES AVAILABLE ON HSN DECEMBER 12TH!

Knowing what we all do about Carol Alt’s devotion to the benefits of raw foods, is it any surprise that she has found a way to care for her outer self in the same manner? After many false starts and near hits over several years, Carol is launching a line of skincare products called RAW ESSENTIALS, made entirely from – you guessed it! – 100% raw active, natural and completely synthetic-free ingredients. That means no parabens, P.E.G.s, or lauryl sulfates. In fact, RAW ESSENTIALS is the only product line sold in the United States that is certified raw. Carol explains:

“I had been eating raw and was feeling so amazing, with such incredible results, that I realized I wanted to continue that thread throughout my life. I knew that I could feel better and better if I could cut more “bad” things out of my life. I had already “chemical-proofed” my immediate surroundings, with water filters, air filters, ozone machines, etc., for my home and office. Then I thought, ‘What about the things I put on my body?”

“The pharmaceutical companies and skincare companies try to tell us that skin acts as a barrier that will keep all the bad things from entering our systems, but that simply isn’t the truth. Skin does allow certain things to pass through it and into the blood stream. When I was battling cancer, the last thing I wanted was anything chemical or unhealthy passing through my skin, especially since I was being so careful about what I ate, and drank, and breathed. So, I became a label sleuth, reading the ingredients of every product I bought or already had on my shelves. From there, I began studying skincare and the various processes that were involved in making these products.

“I found some very troubling things. For example, the F.D.A. does not regulate skincare. That alone scared me, since it meant that manufacturers could legally put just about anything at all into my lipstick, or my mascara, or my hand lotion and who or what was there in place to protect me?

“So, I began making my own products at home, using nothing but raw ingredients. I tried out all types of herbs and liquids, in various combinations, until I hit on something that worked. Well, my skin started looking better than it had in years, which of course, was a great by-product of my quest for better health.”

Carol began sharing her discovery with her friends and family. One of her sisters had suffered for years from rosacea, but once she changed over to Carol’s homemade moisturizer, the rosacea became a thing of the past.

There was another consideration driving Carol’s quest for her own line of raw products:

“At the time I published my first book on eating raw, I realized I had a dilemma. Many people were looking to me as an expert on pure and clean, whether it was food, or skincare, or any other health-related entity. It became clear that I could not put my name on just any skincare line unless it was in keeping with my personal philosophy and principles. It was that philosophy that led me to create this line of skincare products, since nobody else could live up to the ideals I had set for my own skin. If I wasn’t using something myself, how could I possibly recommend that other people use it?!

“Sticking to my principles has, unfortunately, cost me a great deal of money over the years. In one instance, I had to fight to be released from a long-term contract as the spokeswoman for a cosmetics line after less than half of the term had elapsed. What a financial hit that was! But my values had changed dramatically and I have to live with myself. Since that time, I have turned down literally millions of dollars from advertisers of various skincare lines, because I cannot, in good conscience, promote those particular products.

“Since the raw movement is relatively new, it was virtually impossible to find a cosmetics company with a truly pure line that I, myself, would feel safe using. My guidelines and demands on this subject are so stringent, and I am not willing to compromise on them, that it made it very difficult for any company to be able to afford to work with me. You have to understand that it is very expensive to use raw ingredients in anything. When I say ‘raw’, I mean as found in nature - unadulterated, unheated ingredients. That is basically why I had to create my own products, which has taken me quite a while to accomplish. What I kept running into when trying to work with manufacturers was that, unfortunately, people tend to, shall we say, fib – telling you (meaning me!) what they think you want to hear. Time after time, I would discover that a so-called raw process or ingredient actually had been cooked, thus defeating completely the raw mandate.

“For example, one company had come up with a banana fragrance and a mango fragrance for my tropical line. Those two fruits do not produce a useable scent for this type of thing. Banana fragrance (mango, too) can only be produced by combining two other ingredients found in nature and fusing them together by cooking them, thus chemically altering them. The resulting banana-like fragrance may be a natural “aroma”, but it is not a raw, natural “ingredient”. That was totally unacceptable.

“By relying on these people who were assuring me that they were doing everything in a raw and natural manner, when they weren’t, it was delaying my ability to launch this line that I so firmly believed in. On more than one occasion, with more than one manufacturer, we had gotten all the way to the end of the process and were about to launch my line, when someone would say something offhandedly and I’d say, ‘What?!’ and discover that one item or another had been adulterated, either by heating it or chemically altering it from its natural state. Well, that, of course, put a screeching halt to that particular venture and it was on to the next manufacturer!

“One of the last guys I tried this with finally showed me that he simply didn’t get it. We happened to be in his office one day and I asked him to add a certain raw ingredient to one of the products. (The entire product line, by the way, was nearly complete at this point!) He said “I’ll be right back”. When he returned a few minutes later, he proudly handed me a beaker with the new formula in it (containing that ingredient) to inspect. ‘Wait! This stuff is hot!’, I said. ‘It’s not that hot’, he told me. ‘How hot is it?’, I asked. ‘Only about 97 degrees’, he replied. What he failed to mention was that he was talking about Celsius degrees, not Fahrenheit. That’s about 135 degrees Fahrenheit! ‘Are you kidding me?!’, I asked. ‘You’ve now denatured the vitamins and minerals and enzymes!’ In the raw food world, that is not raw, natural or unadulterated. I suddenly realized that this man had no idea that heating (cooking!) any ingredient was so wrong in terms of raw. I also knew that if he did it right in front of me, so to speak, he had probably been heating other ingredients along the way.” Needless to say, Carol ended that partnership.

Carol points out that there is ample scientific evidence identifying a number of ingredients in traditional cosmetics as culprits in certain common cancers, particularly breast cancer. She has no intention of permitting such ingredients to impact her life and health, and the fact that RAW ESSENTIALS can assist others in avoiding the consequences of those nasty chemicals (such as parabens) that are found in other cosmetics, has been paramount in giving her a great sense of satisfaction.

“You know…I simply cannot imagine that putting something synthetic on your skin can possibly improve it. All you have to do is look around. No matter how much expensive goop people put on their faces, are they looking younger? No! Not at all. If all of the synthetic products really worked, would we need botox and plastic surgery to the degree they’re now being used? Think about it…!”

“RAW ESSENTIALS will be sold exclusively on HSN (Home Shopping Network), beginning December 12th and 13th with a “soft launch”. At that time, there will be 4 products available containing raw active ingredients that go beyond “natural and organic”: A day moisturizer; an eye cream; a body wash and a face wash. Then, toward the end of January, we will present a “hard launch” and offer additional products, including a night cream; a bath salt; a toner; a facial scrub and two masques (one detoxifying, one nourishing).

“This is one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever been involved with”, Carol concludes. “There are so many benefits to be had from changing your lifestyle, even if it’s only little by little. As I’ve said before, if I can just touch one person’s life and change it for the better, it’ll be worth it.”

CAROL’S PLAYBOY SHOOT IN THE DECEMBER ISSUE IS ON THE STANDS NOW!

12/1/08 Carol Alt’s long-anticipated Playboy layout has been shot, the December, 2008 issue in which she appears is available right now and Carol couldn’t be happier with the results.

As mentioned in a previous article on this site, Carol was very concerned about finding the best photographer – someone with the same artistic values as hers, as well as someone with whom she could feel completely comfortable.

“We searched out a lot of photographers – both fashion photographers and several that Playboy recommended. We had narrowed it down to three terrific people. What happened next was that Timothy White called me and said that this would be his first Playboy shoot. Well, that struck a chord with me – I love being “first” – and I understood him, because he was speaking to me in my language. So, I told him, ‘Look, Timothy, let me come and see your work’, which I did and it was fantastic!

“So that, coupled with the advice we received from Playboy, helped me decide on Timothy. Playboy had wanted to give him a chance, so it all worked out just perfectly for everyone involved.”

Being a fashion photographer, Timothy approached the shoot with the eye of someone accustomed to working in the world of high fashion. His shots are probably less explicit – and, as Carol says, “less in your face” – about the nudity than is typical of the genre. Everyone who has seen them so far thinks they are simply exquisite, artistic photos and Carol agrees.

“My goal, as I’ve said before, was to promote raw eating and to show women that they, too, can look their best at any age. I know that Playboy likes to retouch their photos, so that everyone looks absolutely perfect. I told Timothy that if he intended to retouch my photos, it really wasn’t what I wanted. Granted, you have to have the basic body to begin with, but come on – let’s get real. I’m really fed up with looking at models who are 20 years old touting skin creams that they’ve never used, telling older women that they can look like that, too.

“I want women to understand that I’m no different than anyone else out there. It’s just that I’m extremely careful about my diet and I don’t mean ‘dieting’. If you watch what you eat, as I do with the raw foods, your body will find it’s own ideal weight. As long as the food is processed in the right way, you won’t have to starve yourself with crappy little meals; you’ll be able to eat whatever you want whenever you want, and both your body and your health will reap the benefits!”

Timothy and the crew took Carol down to Ballast Key, near Key West, Florida - http://www.privateislandsonline.com/ballast-key.htm. It’s a gorgeous park-like little gem, part of the Key West National Wildlife Refuge, although ironically, prior to being designated as such, it had been a military bombing range.

“The water is only about chest-high leading to the island. We could have literally walked there! The place is stunning; everywhere you look, there’s something interesting to see, from the foliage to the rock formations. Timothy had such an amazing eye – he could take a tree and turn it into a shower. He knew exactly how to use the lighting during the various times of day and that is a sign of a great photographer.

“We shot the entire thing right on the beach and that’s exactly what I wanted to do. I know that shooting on a beach was expensive, but Playboy was so generous and open to my ideas, it was just wonderful. I think they were really intrigued, because this was the first time a woman had ever used Playboy as a platform for health and nutrition. But what better place could there be than Playboy, which, after all, is about beauty and the art, so to speak, of a woman.

“So it was a first for Playboy, a first for Timothy White and a first for me. How much more perfect a marriage could it be?!”

Now, in case you’re wondering how a shoot like this is staffed and handled, Carol says there were about 10 people there the entire time, including her personal manager, Scott Hart; a representative from Playboy: hair stylist Steven Knoll: makeup artist Sandy Littner: the overall stylist Maya and her assistant: and then there were the four gorgeous, hunky male assistants who were handling all of the heavy equipment…! “I told Timothy that the next time, he should bring 4 nerdy guys, especially for someone as shy about this kind of thing as I am!”, Carol laughs. Speaking of which, when asked how long it took her to become comfortable with the situation, Carol says point-blank, “I was never comfortable, per se. But because I was shown the shots as we went along and was allowed to veto the ones I didn’t like on the spot, I felt as if I was in control. That really helped. What also helped was how sweet Timothy was throughout the shoot in the way he handled me.

“We wound up with over 30 photos and Playboy is giving us a 12 page spread, as well as the cover. In every respect, this experience turned out better than I could ever have imagined it to be.

“I put a great deal of thought into doing this shoot and ultimately, it was the opportunity of possibly saving just one person’s life by opening his or her eyes to the benefits of the raw lifestyle (no pun intended!) that sealed the deal. How could I possibly reach a wider audience than this?”

Carol had another happy surprise when she met the writer for Playboy who was assigned to write the article that accompanies the photos. He had a story to share with Carol and he could hardly wait to tell her.

“A few years back,” Carol says, “he was standing on the street in front of the Playboy offices with his wife and little daughter. A white limo pulled up next to them, the window rolled down, and a hand reached out, clutching a whole bunch of balloons, which were then given to this man’s daughter. The person in the limo popped her head out of the car and said something to the effect of ‘I hope you love these balloons as much as I love giving them to you’. End of story. Except…not quite, since that person in the limo was me!”

Talk about wild coincidences and chance encounters. Carol remembers the event, but not why she had a car full of balloons on 5th Avenue! Needless to say, the interview was off to a great start and both Carol and the writer were able to hit all the right notes!

The DECEMBER 2008 issue of Playboy is on the stands now.

A DIET FOR YOUR HEALTH, NOT JUST FOR YOUR WEIGHT

“I wasn’t born skinny”, Carol says. “In fact, no one in my family is particularly thin. But when I decided to become a fashion model, everyone I met drummed into my head that I was too heavy. Even though I’m tall, I’m not large-boned – I wear a size 7-1/2 shoe and my ring size is a 4! – meaning I can never blame extra pounds on “heavy bones”. So, I started dieting very, very early in my career.

“I must have tried every fad diet in the book – I was constantly dieting and the end result was, oh, yes - I was thin enough, but I was also becoming ill! I had colds and the flu all the time; my respiratory system was a mess; and I seemed to be allergic to everything. Hell! I was even allergic to myself! And I was really becoming sick and tired of being…sick and tired.”

It wasn’t until Carol turned to a raw diet and a lifestyle to go with it that her health improved. She hasn’t had any kind of respiratory or allergy problems since and she was in her mid-30s when she began this regimen. Her “discovery” of the raw diet was the result of a series of serendipitous events.

“I had a friend who had a friend and that young woman had been diagnosed at the age of 22 with cancer. The doctors wanted to remove just about everything that made her a female, from her entire reproductive system to her lymph nodes. In fact, she had been misdiagnosed as a teen when this first began, so her health had deteriorated terribly by the time the cancer diagnosis occurred.

Her boyfriend – and I really take my hat off to this man! – bucked all convention and battled with everyone to try to find her a cure. Meanwhile, everyone else, doctors included, was telling him he was killing her; she only had a couple of weeks left to have the surgery, etc. Instead of listening to them, he took her to another doctor that he had researched. Six months later, his girlfriend was pronounced cancer-free.

So, he called me up one day and said, ‘Carol, you’re the most health-minded person I know and you’re going to want to meet this doctor.’ Little did he know that I was going through my own problems: My weight was ballooning, my skin looked terrible, I was developing fine lines and wrinkles, and I just generally felt awful. I was no longer projecting youth and health, and energy, and I could see my career slipping through my fingers like grains of sand! Still, when he brought this idea to me, I literally was rolling my eyes, thinking, yeah, yeah, yeah. But he wouldn’t give up, so I finally told him to give me this doctor’s number – because I really just wanted to get him off the phone!

Truthfully, though, when we hung up, this little voice inside was saying to me, ‘You’ve been looking for something to help you. How could you be so stupid and too proud to try whatever comes your way? At least look at it, at least educate yourself about whatever it is.’

Well, fortunately, I remembered the doctor’s number (you see? I hadn’t even written it down when my friend gave it to me!), so I called and left him a message. When he called me back – and this I found very interesting – he did not say the usual ‘What can I do for you?’ or ‘What’s wrong with you?’. He said, ‘What do you eat?’! So, I answered this, this and this. He said ‘Oh, my god!’ and started laughing, but it was a very sad kind of laugh. ‘With what you’re eating, I’m surprised you don’t have this, this and this kind of problem’, he said. He listed sinus infections, colds and flues every few weeks, allergies, weight gain, being tired and moody, plus skin problems. Well, I also had a rash on my leg that I couldn’t get rid of and several doctors had been unable to diagnose it. The rash was spreading to other parts of my body.

The doctor finally said, ‘I want you to go eat this weekend’. ‘Eat? I’m a model. I have to stay thin!’, I told him. No – he wanted me to eat specific foods: Raw vegetables, cold-pressed oils, evaporated sea salt, seared fish, fresh fruits – with no restrictions on the amount. All I could think was, ‘This man wants me to eat. This is the most freeing moment of my life!’

That weekend, I followed his instructions and almost immediately began to feel better. That was 12 years ago and I’ve been following this regime ever since. No more colds, no more respiratory infections, no more skin problems, no more anything that bothered me before. Of course, my weight adjusted itself, too, and that hasn’t been a problem since that time, either.”

Carol is still astounded by the people who resist advice that is so easy to follow and makes so much sense. “When I talk to someone with breast cancer, who refuses to give up chicken, or someone with terrible allergies, who refuses to give up wheat products, I tell them, ‘Look, you can take a pill, but that pill is going to bother your liver, or cause some other problem, while your symptoms continue to get worse. Why don’t you just get to the source of all of these problems – the foods you consume and the various ways that food is prepared.’ After all, preservatives, pasteurization, etc., aren’t added to foods to help the person eating them; they’re put there to help the company that sells the food!”

As an example, Carol cites milk. For thousands of years, man drank raw milk and thrived. But then, quite rapidly in the overall scheme of things, big cities replaced small towns and farmers could no longer get their raw milk to the consumer quickly enough to prevent it from spoiling. Thus the need for pasteurization was born. That does not mean, however, that raw milk (which, of course, is still available many places) suddenly became bad for you. It just wasn’t financially feasible to market it in the good old way.

That same principal can be applied to any and all fresh (“raw”) foods. Getting it from the farm to the distributor to you cannot be done quickly enough to prevent it from going bad. That is, when you’re talking about mass production for millions of people. Yet, Carol reminds us, “Whenever I’m in Paris, for example, I eat whatever everyone else is eating and I actually lose weight. Europeans handle their foods differently than we do here in the United States. The taste alone will show you how much better their methods are than what we’re doing to our foods.

Speaking of the taste of food, I understand that a lot of people are turned off by what they think “raw” foods are going to taste like. Let me tell you…I’m not a vegan, so I do eat all kinds of fish, meats, unpasteurized raw milk cheeses, sprouted breads – in other words, a wide variety of foods. But for me, the natural flavor of a food, which has not been killed by cooking or processing it, is amazing. The flavor of a raw tomato, for example, is unbelievable – sweet, juicy, delicious, all by itself! Compare that to a cooked tomato that requires all kinds of “additions” to make it palatable and you’ll know what I mean. On top of that, raw tomatoes are alkaline, so they don’t cause acid indigestion or canker sores.

Of course, a great thing about raw “cooking” is the use of spices, which are uncooked themselves, and which can really work beautifully to bring new and wonderful flavors to all of the raw foods you’ll be consuming. Cumin, thyme, garlic, onion, sea salt, all kinds of peppers, ginger – the list is endless and so are the possibilities…!

One other point: I, myself, don’t cook much. I know how – I just don’t have the time. I order many, many food items online and have them delivered, including the milk! I even order entire meals – a whole week’s worth – from a company on the other side of the country! It’s so easy. But no matter how you get it, raw foods are available everywhere to everyone, in every conceivable price range. So, there are no good excuses not to try this out, either cold turkey or little by little. I have never felt better in my life!”

Carol Alt’s popular book, “Eating In The Raw“, can be found at the following on-line location:
http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Raw-Beginners-Healthier-Raw-Food/dp/140005284X

And this will take you to Carol’s other book, “The Raw 50“:
http://www.amazon.com/Raw-50-Amazing-Breakfasts-Lifestyle/dp/0307351742/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221695729&sr=1-1

CAROL’S FIRST NOVEL, “THIS YEAR’S MODEL”, HITS THE SHELVES IN AUGUST, 2008

Carol Alt, already a successful author (”Eating In The Raw”, “The Raw 50″), has now turned her considerable writing skills to fiction.  Her debut novel, “This Year’s Model” (Avon A, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 97800611366246), goes on sale August 26, 2008.

Loosely based upon Carol’s own brilliant and unparalleled career in the world of high fashion modeling, “This Year’s Model” follows the exploits, both professional and personal, of a beautiful young woman as she enters and conquers the intriguing world of agencies, photographers, runways and romance.

This novel is a “must read” for anyone interested in pursuing a career in the fashion industry, as well as for their families, or for anyone who’s just plain curious about this very glamorous - and to most people, mysterious - life.

Attached you’ll find the press release from publisher, Avon A, which offers more information on this fascinating novel, as well as some tips from Carol on how to safely navigate a budding career as a model.

Here’s what the L.A. Times had to say:

http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-books.0810-pg,0,1413205.photogallery?index=2

“This Year’s Model” can be ordered now at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=this+year%27s+model%2C+carol+alt&x=0&y=0

Or at Barnes & Noble:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/This-Years-Model/Carol-Alt/e/9780061366246

THE PLAYBOY SPREAD GETS THE CONVERSATION GOING

Hundreds of readers have responded to the news about Carol Alt doing a nude layout in Playboy by applauding her willingness to do something so adventurous “at this age”and in particular, her underlying reasons for even considering it in the first place:  To get the message across that healthy living and eating “raw” can help anyone and everyone.

Of course, as with any slightly new or controversial idea, a tiny handful of writers simply didn’t get it and in fact strongly opposed it, which elicited a few very interesting thoughts and comments from Carol.

“I’ve never been comfortable with my body,” Carol says.  “When I had to pose for Sports Illustrated in a bathing suit at the age of 20, it was some of the most difficult work I ever did.  I was always a heavy kid; my sister is a plus-size model; and it’s not like I come from a long line of stick figures!  I continuously battled with my weight!  I always felt uncomfortable with my body - was very shy and really, rather conservative.

“Just to be thinking of doing something that is this radical, in a sense, but in such celebration of the female form, is really because I believe that this is the best way to reach people and get conversation going.  I need to put my fears and nervousness aside, and get this message out there.  This certainly wasn’t the last alternative, nor was it the first alternative.  It is just “an” alternative way to get people talking.”

Carol reiterated that she believes that Playboy is without question the finest, most artistic magazine she could have chosen for her leap of faith.  “The celebrity photos are not at all like the centerfold layouts, but no matter what, all of the photos I see in Playboy are beautiful and very tastefully shot.

“In reality, at my age, to know that I have come to such a point, where I am comfortable enough with my own body after 12 years of eating raw - that I actually feel better about my body at 47 than I did at 20 - is an amazing miracle in itself.  I want to enlighten other people to the fact that as they age, they don’t have to start feeling worse about themselves - getting tired, getting moody, getting fat and becoming ill.  There is an alternative, but the only way for people to find it is to educate themselves.  One way to get them to do that is to start them talking about it.  The only way I know of to encourage that kind of discussion is to do something a little…controversial.  And yes - this is somewhat controversial.

“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching about this and have spoken extensively with Playboy about it.  They have been amazing to work with and are embracing this message that I want to get across, which is eat healthy, look healthy and be healthy.  It doesn’t matter what age you are.  You can look sexy and feel great, and that doesn’t have to be a gift only for the young.  It can be a gift for any age, even the old (whatever that is nowadays).”

Carol is well aware that whenever she talks to people about the raw life, they tend to become nervous and even a little defensive, because they worry that it will be too difficult, or that they won’t be able to give it 100% - any excuse at all for not even trying it.  They defend their own way of eating, despite the fact that for most, that’s becoming an obsolete way of doing things.  “It’s very hard to get people to embrace something ‘new’ or ‘different’, Carol reminds us.  “But in this case, raw is not ‘new’ or ‘different’ at all.  It’s the way food has been handled since the beginning of time.  It’s only for the last couple of generations that we are processing foods and genetically altering them.  Look at almonds, as just one example:  We now pasteurize them, but still call them ‘raw’!  Once you cook, or pasteurize, or homogenize anything, it’s no longer raw.  So, we are now getting nothing like our grandparents got and nearly nothing like our parents got - our food is being genetically modified and chemically altered, one way or another.

“When I approach people about this concept, it freaks them out and they often just shut down.  So I thought, let’s try a less aggressive approach and the Playboy shoot seemed ideal.  Yes, it’s controversial, but if that’s what it takes, I’m OK with that.  If someone thinks that I have anything but altruistic reasons for doing this, they’d better think again.  Seriously.”

Carol Alt enters online marketing arena

To take advantage of new online marketing and promotion opportunities, and accommodate nearly
37,000 unique internet searches for the keyword “Carol Alt” per month, Carol Alt has launched
a new website.

Carol has decided to stay away from flash/multimedia sites that are all the rage among actors, models and individuals who don’t know any better. She decided to go with an informational-based portal that will achieve a high Google ranking; immediately index all news and updates with Google; immediately update any news on her through Google News and other news ventures; and capitalize on the ads associated with the content on her web pages.

The new web site will eventually feature most of Carol’s magazine covers and articles about her, gathered over time - but not all of them, since it is nearly impossible to locate all of the photos and items written about Carol over the past 30 years.

To assist us in that effort, Attention Interactive, Carol’s online marketing agency, encourages submissions from all of Carol’s former associates and fans to submit whatever content they have on Carol so that she can grow her brand new site.

The Carol Alt portal is loaded with the latest news and each article encourages user submissions and comments.

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S HOMO ERECTUS” fka “THE CAVEMAN COMEDY”

“I’m a tall woman”, Carol says, “But I always managed to avoid playing Amazons throughout my career…that is, until the script for the independent comedy, ‘Homo Erectus’ landed in my lap. This script was so funny, I was laughing out loud as I read it. That’s what finally won me over!”

The movie, written and directed by it’s prolific star, Adam Rifkin, is, as Carol puts it, an “A” movie takeoff of a “B” caveman movie (was there ever any other kind?). It co-stars Ali Larter (”Heroes”), David Carradine, Talia Shire and Gary Busey. If that eclectic combination of talent doesn’t give you a hint that there’s something funny going on here, Carol’s decision to finally portray an Amazon (the literal, not figurative, kind) based upon the script alone should be enough to send her fans in droves to theaters when it opens across the country. Her cameo role still has her in stitches…although there weren’t many of those in her costume…!

As any good Amazon scholar surely knows, 5′10″ still isn’t tall enough, so Carol had to wear high heels throughout the shoot.

“We shot in a rock quarry, which was scary enough, but they had me running around in these high-heeled boots and I had to keep up with everyone else who was running in sneakers. By the end of the day, I had sore muscles everywhere!” The fact that she was wearing only a fur bikini and those high-heeled fur boots obviously did nothing to lessen the physical exertion - dodging rocks, sweltering in the heat, all the while trying to keep up with Ali Larter, who was running in flats. Still, she had a wonderful time working on this crazy comedy.

“In post-production, I had to go into the studio and record some new lines, because when National Lampoon bought it, they wanted to expand my role. Well, while I was looping my lines, the recording engineer and ADR director were sitting in the booth laughing their heads off. And they were only watching my scenes at the time. I thought then that if these pros were laughing that much, this film was going to be a huge hit.”

“National Lampoon’s Homo Erectus” had its world premiere at Slamdance in 2007. It’s currently scheduled to open in various cities in the summer of 2008. Everyone knows that National Lampoon doesn’t add its name to anything that isn’t funny and, since their branding generally assures the “golden touch”, Carol (and of course, everyone else involved in the project) is anticipating a summer hit!

CELEBRITY APPRENTICE

“Firing me (from ‘Celebrity Apprentice’) was the best thing Donald (Trump) could ever have done for me”, says Carol Alt. “People were so incensed – the one thing everybody says to me is ‘You should have won!’. And of course, no one will ever know if I would have or not (had she gone toe-to-toe with Piers Morgan, the ultimate winner), which keeps the conversation going and that’s always a good thing.”

Carol was shocked by the firing at first, because she had helped raise a lot of money for charity (close to $100,000) and had never lost a task. But, as everyone knows, Donald is a businessman extraordinaire and obviously must have had his reasons, mysterious as they may have been.

Something else that Carol was not completely prepared for was the fierce (and often vicious) competition among the women. She caught on to that quickly, though, and was able to use it to her advantage as the weeks went by. Surprisingly enough, the worst of it did not come from the “usual suspect”. She won’t name names, but it is safe to say that danger is often hidden in velvet-wrapped packages.

There was a list of nearly 200 celebrities who were interested in being a part of this wildly entertaining fund-raising event. Apparently, one who had already been chosen went into a mild state of panic shortly before shooting was supposed to begin and decided to bow out. Carol reports, “Donald and I have known each other for years. He’s always liked me and suggested calling to ask me if I would step in. I was just finishing a film and, since this was only two weeks before ‘Celebrity Apprentice” was set to start, I really didn’t have time to freak out. So I said I’d do it!” Carol saw this as a wonderful opportunity to raise money for TAMFI, the Tony Alt Memorial Fund, in honor of her late brother (www.TAMFI.com).

The shooting schedule was intense, to say the least. The average day lasted 20 or 21 hours, leaving them only 3 or 4 hours to sleep. “We often didn’t even have time to eat and I lost 12 pounds within the first 10 days”, Carol says. “I should write another book: ‘The Celebrity Apprentice Diet’!”

Lack of sleep and food aside, the stress level was horrendous. It was during the boardroom meeting following the first task that Carol says she “got it” – meaning, it became crystal clear to her that the other women had, shall we say, their own agendas and bringing Carol Alt down seemed to be a priority for most of them. There was obviously some kind of game being played and once Carol understood the “rules”, her competitive nature took over. She still doesn’t agree with the tactics that were being employed by the other women, but the old expression, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” seemed to apply and certainly worked in her favor.

Carol’s business acumen was in high gear throughout the often grueling competition. Unfortunately, not everyone had the same savvy way of handling the various tasks, nor did they always agree on the best approach. Take the hot dog task, for example. “Basically, the leader (in this case, Omorossa) didn’t identify our assets. In her mind, we were. . .selling hot dogs. Period. Tiffany Fallon pointed out that we were not just ‘selling hot dogs’. We were seven beautiful women selling hot dogs and a thousand guys on the street that day would have bought anything from us, probably at any price. Well, Omorossa disagreed and insisted that we were just selling hot dogs, based solely upon their own merits, like anyone else would have done. The guys, on the other hand, recognized that they were seven celebrities selling hot dogs and behaved accordingly – they sold one hot dog for $10,000! – while we sold 1,000 hot dogs for $2.50 each. We did not identify our assets properly and that’s just a basic business strategy. So, we failed.”

In fact, Carol says that with each task, at least one common business point was overlooked or ignored by the women. One by one, each of the other female celebs was eliminated in the Boardroom until it was just Carol and the two final guys: Trace Adkins and Piers Morgan. That’s when Donald pulled the shocker and gave Carol the axe, which in retrospect, as she says, is the best thing he could have done for her. So, once again, Carol thanks Donald for yet another good turn.

In case you missed any of Carol’s episodes, or just want to re-visit them, click on the following link.

http://www.nbc.com/The_Celebrity_Apprentice/

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