Pageant News Bureau - Valerie Tai

Valerie Tai is not what you'd expect in a teenage girl, and certainly not in a teenage model.

Though she's still a couple of seasons from the end of high school, this lissome Kentuckian has the presence of a young woman well into college. And we're not referring to her looks. She's just so pleasingly mature -- smart, well-spoken, comfortable, confident. "Ladylike" in all the best senses of the word.

She's also a extremely driven young woman, though she doesn't describe herself that way. She simply concedes that she's sometimes rather busy.

Running just a bit late for a phone interview with PNB, Ms. Tai sent a gracious message promising we wouldn't have to wait long. And she was right. Soon she was on the line, apologizing because a salon appointment had taken more time than expected. "I have a job tomorrow," she explained. A modeling job in another state.

We initially heard about her from our friends at Model Locate. And the more details we learned about her, the more intrigued we became.

She is, to put it mildly, more than just a model. She's a high school whiz kid, a fitness enthusiast, a songwriter, an actress and a competitive speaker. A lot of her traveling is for activities that have nothing do with modeling. She will try her hand at almost any kind of challenging activity. Forget the bimbo stereotypes: Ms. Tai is a Renaissance girl for the wired generation.

Her role model is someone we would never have guessed: Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But it makes sense, wherever you stand on politics. As a young man, Schwarzenegger rebuilt his body, adopted a new nation, learned a new language. He went on to have three phenomenally successful careers. He's an overachiever, which makes him a natural to inspire this girl.

Ms. Tai's strongest ambitions are to act in independent movies (if they are "well written"), to be a spokesmodel for a major corporation, and to host her own journalistic talk show. Not a chat show, but one "with a vigorous exchange of views."

Her father is a photographer, and she got the idea of modeling about a year ago. It's a way to further her goals, and she likes the challenges it provides.

Photo by Jim Williams, Taidiva Productions

Ms. Tai has also tried pageants on occasion. She placed well but didn't win, she told us. Characteristically, she was not making any excuses, and she had only positive things to say about the experience. Still, the chances that she will do it again soon are slim -- unless she can find a lot more time in her schedule.

If we had to make a prediction about Valerie Tai, we'd call her "most likely to succeed." She's going to be a star in something, and maybe in everything.

Special thanks to Model Locate www.modellocate.com

Photo by Accending Phoenix

Doing it all, doing it well