Rita doin' some traffic anchoring on the cbs morning news!

Rita's TV Spokesperson Reel

Rita's TV Host Reel

Rita's experience on SURVIVOR FIJI..in a nutshell!

At Mayor Hardberger's Gala in celebration of President Barack Obama's Inauguration

The best Mayor of San Antonio, Mayor Hardberger, held a Gala dinner in celebration of President Barack Obama's Inauguration, January 20, 2009. It was a wonderful event and I was very fortunate to have been invited. Thank you, Mayor, for the generous "celebrity" introdution that your staff gave me. It is always a pleasure and an honor to be in Mayor Hardberger's presence. He is truly a class act. Here I am with my favorite Mayor!
The new "Obama" girls! (w/my best friend, Kim Minor)

Workin' the Runway!

My stylist, Hilda De Hoyos of DIVA Salon, asked me to model for her in this show held at the Bubble Room, in San Antonio. She is an AMAZING hair stylist and makeup artist who has been working with me for 4 years. She has done my hair and makeup for my events, for the TV show that I hosted on TELEMUNDO and would LOVE for her to do my hair and makeup when I do the Traffic Anchoring on the cbs morning news, Kens 5, but I'm nice enough to not make her wake up at 4am for that. That's where having gone through the Miss Venezuela Finishing School training comes in handy for me. Hilda is the BEST in town and I'm so blessed to have her! I also Emceed this event. I wish I had a video, but thanks to a great photographer, Scott Smith, I have this image of me working the runway in one of my favorite gowns designed by my talented brother, a Project Runway alumn, Nick. This gown is so amazing that when I wore it to the MIss Universe pageant a couple of years ago, some of the organizer's were reprimanding me telling me I needed to get backstage with the other contestants. They couldn't understand why I reacted hugging them to death and saying THANK YOU!!! (hello, I was 38 at the time...okay!!)

Helping Local Charities 07

This event was one of the very first invites I received to help a local children's charity. It was a "Celebrity look a like"...as you can see me pictured with Wonder Woman. It was a really fun night complete with a talent show that featured a very talented local singer, the sexy, Marco Cruz. You can find his material on My Space.This is a sweet boy who wanted my autograph because I told him I was trying to look like "Rita" from Survivor...lol

A little bit of Hollywood in San Antonio !

On the Red Carpet at the Grid Iron Heroes, Friday Night Lights Premiere (thanks to Chris Canales for providing me with these images!) Here I am with Brad Leland and Kyle Chandler, the Creators of the "Beyond the Lights" Organization.
Last week, I was very fortunate to have been invited to walk the Red Carpet at the Premiere of the new Season of the Hit show "Friday Night Lights." I have to congratulate Mason PR for their job putting on this event. I have been lucky to attend Red Carpet events in LA and in Vegas and, I have to say, this one left nothing to be desired. The night started off with a VIP Party for the Sponsors of this event, whose proceeds will benefit the GridIron Heroes Foundation. It was my privilege to meet Eddie Canales(Founder) and his son (Chris), the inspiration behind the creation of this special foundation which lends its support to families whose children have suffered crippling spinal injuries as a result of playing sports, usually football. This is another example of something that's priceless that I am fortunate to have been a part of thanks to my participation on SURIVIVOR FIJI. I am particularly grateful to have been included in this event because I am the mommie of a natural born athlete, my 12 yr. old boy whose played QB, Front Guard, Pitcher...name the sport, he plays it...and may I sound like the proud mommie that I am..he's naturally great at all of them!!:-)
It was a treat to walk this Red Carpet with a fantastic actor, Kyle Chandler and a Hottie who made my day when he told me his attempt at getting on SURVIVOR :-) Drew, if you read this, I loved your story about the 1/2 hour wait in line and I love the call to your dad! Drew's done better than "survived" he's got himself a starring role in this series. Where's the line to get on your show, huney? I wouldn't know what to do with myself, w/food and water and clean clothes!! I'll stand in line for as long as it takes to get on that one...did you hear that, Peter (Berg, that is...the Director) :-) Stay tuned!!
Here are some extremely blurry photos..my camera ran out of batteries and I had to take them with my phone :-( Soon, hopefully, I can get some of the professional images that were taken that night to replace these. Here I am with Kyle Chandler.
Drew Water with his favorite SURVIVOR..lol.

World Car Nissan TV Spokesperson Commercials on UNIVISION

This is a fun commercial I got to do for World Car Nissan. Coincidentally, the car I was driving, I had bought at this dealership 3 years earlier. Had I known I was going to be doing a commercial for them, maybe I coulda gotten a better deal! As I write this, however, I'm waiting for the call from the dealership of the car that I've just traded mine in for. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, I'll get to do a commercial for this new dealership..stay tuned!
I also did some fun voice overs:

World Car Nissan TV Spokesperson Commercials on UNIVISION

This was a really fun opportunity that I got to do..coincidentally, from the car company where I had purchased my Hyundai Tiburon a couple of years before! I wish I woulda known then that I'd be doing a commercial for them a couple of years later. As I write this, however, I've traded in my Hyundai, stay tuned. If, I'm really lucky, I may get to do a fun commercial for the dealership of the new car I got!!
and here are some fun "voice overs" that I did for them. (Kelsey Grammer did the nationwide "Duh" campaign).