Shawn Alff: As a promo girl, do your facial muscles ever get tired from smiling and taking photos with strangers all day?
Lauren Anderson: With a job like this, why wouldn’t you be happy? We are basically paid to party and be at great events… But I know what you are saying. When you take thousands of pictures and you are constantly smiling your facial muscles do get a little tired. When I find myself smiling after a really long day, I hum just to keep the smile going and looking natural.
* * *
SA: Have you invented any specialty drinks with 7 Crown?
LA: We have actually. Any day now we should have mixology videos coming out on Playboy.com. The one I made is called 7-ade. It is just lemonade and 7-Crown. Jamie’s is just cola with the 7-Crown Stone Cherry.
* * *
SA: As a Floridian, what do you think of when you think of Tampa?
LA: I love Tampa. I’m actually hoping to move to Tampa soon. The people are awesome, at least at the places I’ve gone, like The Venue. I think Tampa is one of the best cities in Florida, right up there with Miami. Orlando is older and more touristy. Tampa is more upscale. It has a younger feel and the nightlife is great.
* * *
SA: Are you starting a tanning salon here?
LA: I am. My salon is a medical spa now. I am planning to open one in the next year or so.
* * *
- Lauren Anderson, Shawn Alff, and Jamie Edmondson
: In the bio on
your website, it says that “real success as a Playmate means parlaying that exposure into other opportunities.” In what ways did being a Playmate help with starting
your chain of beauty salons in Gainesville?
LA: When I got into Playboy I was studying to be a veterinarian at the University of Florida. Then I got into Playboy and it was a shock and totally different than anything I’ve ever done. Playboy was the whole reason I started my business. I wanted to bring a little of Hollywood and the things I was doing in LA to Gainesville. I credit Playboy with my success. Before Playboy I didn’t care as much about how I looked, and how I presented myself, and health and things like that.
* * *
SA: Do you think people will ever start getting spray tans with nontraditional skin tones like blue or green?
LA: Why would anyone want to do that?
* * *
SA: To be different. It’s like hair dye. Once people started dyeing their hair, subgroups started dyeing their hair strange colors.
LA: I guess that is true, but I don’t know. I have never even thought about something like that. We do a ton of spray tanning business, but I don’t know about any other colors. I don’t want to be any other colors. I don’t know. My spa is never going to offer that.
* * *
SA: As someone who has posed nude for
PETA, what do you think of
PETA’s decision to launch an X-rated version of their website?
LA: PETA is all about doing whatever they can to get attention for their cause… If that works for them, then great. But, they definitely go over the top sometimes. I think you can get your point across without being so dramatic, but that is what PETA is all about and that is why they get attention, so of course they are going to keep doing crazy things… I don’t participate in all of that. I do not throw blood on models in New York or anything like that. My views are my own opinion. But, I used to go on Capitol Hill and do a vegetarian hot dog lunch dressed only in a lettuce-cup bikini.
* * *
SA: Was it real lettuce?
LA: No, it was just plastic. They only do it because the American Meat Institute hosts a hot dog lunch that day, so it is just to oppose that. It is all for fun. No one ever gets real serious or angry about it… That is probably the most dramatic thing I have ever done for PETA; wearing a lettuce bikini is where I draw the line.
* * *
SA: So what if I show up to the Seagram’s party dressed only in a bunny costume?
LA: Are you going to? Please tell me you will. That would be awesome.
* * *
Drink and party with Lauren Anderson and Jamie Edmondson Wed., Sept. 28, from 10PM — 2AM at The Venue (2675 Ulmerton Road, Clearwater) and catch a glimpse of a slightly drunk man—who is completely unaffiliated with Seagrams, Playboy, or The Venue—showing these Playmates how to make bunny ears look masculine.
Also, enter to win a chance to party at the Las Vegas Playboy Club this New Years Eve at Playboy.com/7crown
Follow Alfie on Twitter or Facebook and email him if interested in writing about Sex & Love.
