D.C.'s Next Top Ex-Wonk?
Friday, May 12, 2006; Page C03
Washington's hottest policy wonk won't be "America's Next Top Model" after all. But Sara Albert still might leave D.C. for the runway.
The young health-policy researcher with David Bradley 's Advisory Board Co. made it to the UPN reality competition's final four before she was eliminated on Wednesday's show. Despite early raves, the judges found the willowy blonde too "stiff," while rivals carped that she didn't seem "serious" enough about modeling, what with her fancy Georgetown degree. Yet Albert, who was discovered while shopping at Pentagon City last summer, said she gained a passion for modeling -- so much so that she just gave notice at the high-powered think tank.
  Sara Albert as seen on "Next Top Model." (Saturong Hirankarn -- UPN) Save & Share |
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"It's such a wonderful company," she told us yesterday. "I really enjoyed everything I was doing. It was awkward going into work after wearing a thong on TV or when I had a mohawk, but everyone was so supportive. They know this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. They said I can always come back." The former volleyball star doesn't know yet if she'll move. "I'm looking at all options. D.C.'s not much of a model market."
Albert, 22, wouldn't name the "conservative senator" she cited on one episode as her boyfriend's boss. So is she really tall-for-a-model 6-1 as noted on the show? Or 6-3, as claimed on some Hoya Web sites?
"Six-one," she laughed. "Girls in volleyball are always exaggerating their height."
Camille Loves Condi? In Theory, Yes
We knew Condoleezza Rice would be a hit at the Independent Women's Forum gala. The conservative group at the red-hot center of the Draft Condi movement honored the secretary of state Wednesday and warmly cheered her every word on democracy's bloom around the world.
Great -- but what did Camille Paglia think? The iconoclastic social critic, who has dissected feminist icons from Nefertiti to Madonna , was a guest at the dinner; at the end of Rice's speech, we found her in afterglow.
"She has advanced the persona of the first woman president way beyond any other woman in my lifetime," Paglia gasped. "She has gravitas! As a musician and an athlete, she has a sense of command and theatricality. She has an ability to improvise that Hillary Clinton utterly lacks." Paglia said she'd expected Rice to come across as steely or distant. Not so! "It's been a hard week for her, but when she becomes tired, she becomes more human! She gets warmer, more natural!"
Very interesting -- yet awfully theoretical, too. If Rice runs, would the lifelong liberal Democrat actually vote for her? "I'd be in a terrible quandary!" Paglia said. "I hope it doesn't happen."
Here for 'Today,' Gone by Tomorrow
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| No rest, no play for for Lab School's Smith.(Stephanie K. Kuykendal - The Washington Post) |
The other moms were flown to New York yesterday. Smith? Her killer schedule kept her in D.C. until late last night, when an NBC car was to fetch her and drive her to Manhattan, where she planned to turn around in the wee hours and board Freedom of the Seas, the new giant cruise ship docked in the city's harbor and the setting for "Today's" live broadcast. After a serenade by Barry Manilow , the other mothers will see "The Lion King" on Broadway-- but Smith is racing back today for a special arts teachers' workshop. Whew !
THIS JUST IN . . .
· Barbara Walters, at the Kuwaiti Embassy Wednesday, told us she's not dropping Star Jones Reynolds or adding Oprah's pal Gayle King on "The View." Walters, who said she's been besieged with questions about the show's new lineup, joined Bo Derek, Ron Silver and Colin Powell at the "coming out" dinner for Saudi Arabia's new ambassador, Turki al-Faisal, hosted by Kuwaiti ambassador Salem al-Sabah and his wife, Rima.
· The White House is giving Australia's John Howard the red-carpet treatment. The prime minister will be honored with a black-tie official dinner Tuesday night; country singer Kenny Chesney ( Renee Zellweger's ex) will break a heart or two.
· Rolling Stone Keith Richards was released from a New Zealand hospital yesterday but will remain in the country for treatment. "I'm pretty much at a loss for words to express my deep gratitude," the 62-year-old Richards said in a statement. "I hope I wasn't too much of a pain in the arse -- after all, it was my head they fixed. Many thanks Kiwis."
