When Julie Henderson made her debut in 2007, she began a yearlong stint as my favorite SI model.
Maybe it was the tousled hair, the smirk, the squint, the somewhat elongated nose, or simply the fact that she was posing on a college football practice field:
…but she struck me as very girl-next-door. (Well, next door to Russell Simmons.)
That led to a stellar 2008:
…a very pretty 2009:
…and a gorgeous 2010:
She also markets herself well. She has a very active Twitter account, interacting regularly with MJ Day, and they tweet and retweet each other constantly. And a couple quotes from this video sound like she’s on a job interview.
“What would you say are your driving goals, Miss Henderson?”
A goal of mine wasn’t ever to be, like, on the cover of Vogue or anything. Mine was Sports Illustrated, like, I was like, ‘I have to be in that issue.’
“Where do you see yourself in three years, Miss Henderson?”
My goal is to get into the 50th anniversary issue. That’s like three more years. That would be a good run, seven years. But, who knows?
She also acted as a gofer to MJ Day last year “This job requires a lot of flexibility, Miss Henderson. Give me an example of a situation where you've stepped up and taken initiative.”
I assured her I was very much willing to be her slave for the day—no funny business.
And even this year, the only identifiable pics I can recall that MJ Day has tweeted from the 2011 shoot (so far) have been of Julie. Will February’s cover bring us Miss Henderson hooking her thumbs into this red-n-white polka-dotted bikini bottom?
Anyway, my point is, Julie is not only drop-dead gorgeous, but she also expresses a lot of passion for the magazine. I think she’s the safest bet.
Somebody put this girl on a cover.
