Pageant News Bureau - Libby Augustine

What comes to mind when we look at Libby Augustine? We think of the young Marilyn Monroe dancing in a chorus line. And the flower child we once saw riding on the back of a motorcycle, long hair blowing in the breeze. And the sexy sitcom housewife who wasn't supposed to use her magic powers, but always did.

What we're trying to say is that Ms. Augustine is a beautiful woman with a free spirit. Not a phony bone in her whole gorgeous body. She's the kind of woman you don't easily forget.

She can seem naive, childlike, zany, even kooky. "I'm a bit odd," she admits. "Normal is boring." But sometimes, when you're talking to her about the things that matter, you realize she's one of the wisest people you've ever met.

Consider her personal motto: "Never settle." In one sense, it means that she’s footloose. She grew up on a farm in Ohio, spent her teen years on Florida beaches and eventually drifted out to the Colorado Rockies. She may move again if the highway calls.

But on a deeper level, her motto means there's a new opportunity around every corner. If you "settle," if you tell yourself that the person you are is all you will ever be, you're only living half a life. She has never settled.

A career in swimsuit modeling was not something Ms. Augustine planned at all. She was working as a nanny when she was first coaxed into a competition onstage. "I needed $100 to pay my car insurance."

Now she doesn't mind admitting that modeling is in her blood. "I have to be onstage," she says. "The girl onstage is the real me."

She expects to be acting soon. Something tells her it's what she was meant to do. "I have this explosion expressionism," she says. "Do you know what that means? I can express every emotion."

We know what it means. And she can.

Note: This is the first of five special PNB profiles of Venus Swimwear models. Look for other profiles in the months ahead.

One of a kind