UMM – Michelle Pieroway

Bienvenido a Miami.

For anyone visiting natural beauty Michelle Pieroway in FLA that could very well be the greeting they receive. Don’t count on it though.

“I have learned a small amount of Spanish but nothing to write home about,” the transplanted Nova Scotian says. “I feel like I’m in another country and then I remember, ‘Oh wait I am in another country’.”

Before her exodus to the Panhandle she started her modelling career at the age of 15 in Halifax after winning the Elite Model Look contest. It was then she met agent Elmer Olsen.

At 17, a family tragedy took Pieroway away from the runways and hair magazines, but she never lost her yen for the lens.

“I decided (modelling) was something I wanted to pursue it again so I actually entered a contest for FHM,” she said. “Of course the Nova Scotian people got me millions of votes.”

Finishing in the Top 10 she was flown to the Bahamas on a photo shoot.

“Everyone in the States liked my work because I looked a little more natural than most of the girls,” she said. “Being Canadian was something different.”

While on another gig in the Florida Keys, Pieroway met her new BFF, Joy. The two have become inseparable and have started a blog called The Adventures of Joy and Michelle.

“Now we’re going to events pretty much weekly,” she said. “Basically we just hang out and blog about our experiences.”

But she doesn’t party all of the time.

Pieroway is looking to finish up on a marketing degree, one that will help her with her next fashion statement. Whipped Cream Swimwear by Michelle Pieroway is the beauty’s latest venture.

“I’ve designed a lot of swimsuits and some of them I’ve shot in for other shoots.”

That itsy-bitsy idea got its start back east where the stores in Haliax lacked good beachwear.

FLA on the other hand…

“Of course in Miami there’s tons of swimwear,” Pieroway said. “But I still have ideas in my mind that are unique and haven’t been done.”

There’s also plenty of colour in the Magic City, especially after a run-in with Jersey Shore regulars Pauly D and Vinny.

“My friend and I were shopping at Victoria’s Secret and when we came out all these photographers were taking pictures of us everywhere and the guys from the show said, ‘Hey, do you guys want to hang out’ and we signed some contracts or releases,” she said.

The experience was myth busting.

“Jersey Shore was not scripted,” Pieroway said. “Unfortunately they really are that nuts.

“What’s crazy is later that night while filming at the club, we realized the boom and the cameras were picking up even the private conversations between me and my girl — Oops.”