Model Anne Surette

Anne Surette is a fashion model from the early eighties.

She was associated with the Elite agency.

Model/author Barbara Summers

Barbara Summers had had a long and distinguished modeling career by the time she wrote "Skin Deep," a history of black fashion models like herself. Her portfolio included ads for clients such as Avon; the picture below is originally from an Avon ad.

Ms. Summers got into modeling by accident. The New England native was teaching French at a small college in Manhattan when she agreed to a shoot for a Mademoiselle article about clothes for professional women . . . like college instructors. Soon she was one of the busiest models in the profession.

As an author, she put out a collection of short stories, "Nouvelle Soul," and wrote a novel, "The Price You Pay." Ms. Summers also edited Brian Lanker's monograph book on famous black women, "I Dream A World." Her book "Skin Deep," published in 1998, is considered a definitive history of black women in modeling.

All three of these pictures - including the one above, in which Barbara Summers poses with her son Kimson - are from "Skin Deep."

Model Hilary Rhoda

Hilary Rhoda is the newest face of Estée Lauder, appearing my many of the company's ads. She has also appeared in several ads for other fashion brands and appeared on several magazine covers. The picture below is from a Lauder holiday advertisement.

Hilary Rhoda joined the Lauder ad campaign in January 2007, just before her twentieth birthday. She is not the exclusive spokesmodel for the company, however, having joined actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Gwyneth Paltrow and model Carolyn Murphy (Liya Kebede, alas, has moved on). The days of one Lauder spokesmodel - namely, Karen Graham in the 1970s - are over.

Supermodel Gail O'Neill

Gail O'Neill was one of many black fashion models who made a name for herself in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Gail O'Neill did a lot of catalogue work, and she appeared on the covers of magazines such as Vogue and Mademoiselle - along with the hot picture below, which appeared on the cover of the Italian magazine Amica. :-D

She became a television journalist in the late nineties, reporting on movies for CBS' "The Early Show." In the 2000s, Gail also hosted CNN's "Travel Now" series and did a few specials for the HGTV channel.

Lisa Masterson, M.D.

After I've shown you so many actresses, models, and anchorwomen, it's a refreshing change to show you someone from a different line of work. And Lisa Masterson is just what the doctor ordered.

Because she is a doctor. :-)

Dr. Masterson is a co-host of "The Doctors," a daytime medical advice show produced by another doctor, Phil McGraw. Dr. Masterson is the only woman on the program, and her specialties are obstetrics, gynecology, and infertility.

In addition to her private practice in Santa Monica, California, she is on staff at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles and runs the Ocean Oasis Medical Spa, which caters to women.

Actress Tina Louise

As anyone who remembers "Gilligan's Island" - that is, most of us - know, Ann-Margaret (relax, I'll get to her) wasn't the only gorgeous red-haired actress of the sixties, nor even the only gorgeous red-haired actress of the sixties known by two first names.

Tina Louise was an up and coming stage and film actress in the late fifties and early sixties who had appeared in movies like God's Little Acre and the Broadway musical Fade Out - Fade In. Then in 1964, she found herself playing a famous move actress stranded on an island with six other castaways in "Gilligan's Island." Her character, Ginger Grant, was clearly inspired by Marilyn Monroe, an actress who, like Ginger, bore an alliterative name that shared a surname with that of a U.S. President.

Tian Louise was never happy in the show, having apparently taken on the role at the urging of her agent. When the show ended after three seasons, she went on to appear in several theatrically released and televised movies, and she got good reviews in 1975's The Stepford Wives.

She's currently a volunteer reading teacher in New York City's public school system.

New York TV newswoman Kristine Johnson

Kristine Johnson is an anchorwoman at WCBS-TV in New York, the CBS network's home station on the East Coast.

The daughter of a Philippine mother and an American father, Kristine Johnson had previously been an anchor on NBC's "Early Today" and also an anchor on MSNBC's "First Look," but she chose a career on "local" broadcast news in New York - that local market being comprised of sixteen million viewers or so. She's been co-anchor of the noon and 5 PM newscasts since 2006 and the 11 PM newscast since 2007.