DIVERSE CAREERS Teacher chronicles interesting journey from geeky bookworm to glamour girl

A teaching job in Indonesia started Jillian Shanebrook on a new career.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Jillian Shanebrook has a beautiful mind.
"At heart I'm a big geek," she said. "I'm such a bookworm."
Shanebrook is a 1991 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University and was salutatorian of her class. She also was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship.
In 1994, Shanebrook won a Princeton University Fellowship to teach English to professors in Java, an island in Indonesia.
"I always fantasized about visiting the Far East," she said. "I was charmed by stories of empresses, Buddhist monks in saffron robes and fragrances of jasmine and lemongrass."
In that land Shanebrook went from grammarian to glamour girl.
The path to modeling
In the book "Model, Life Behind the Makeup," which was released in January, Shanebrook chronicles her often adventurous journey to become one of Asia's top models.
A few months after arriving in Indonesia, Shanebrook noticed that people would stare at her when she walked down the street.
"I was attracting attention because I was very tall (5-foot-7) compared to most Indonesians," she wrote in her book, "and being one of the few Western women there, I had relatively 'exotic' features. I started to toy with the idea of modeling."
In New York friends had urged Shanebrook to get into the business, and agents had approached her. However, she was more interested in "the pursuit of knowledge," which was more in keeping with the views of her college professor father and psychotherapist mother.
After unsuccessful visits to a few modeling agencies, the brunette was discovered at a hotel salon, where a friend was getting a haircut. The salon manager asked if she would like to be in a fashion show at the hotel.
"As soon as I said, 'Sure,' I thought to myself, 'Uh-oh, you are really in trouble now; you don't have the slightest idea how to model," she recalled.
The salon manager sent her to the fashion show's designer. After watching her strut her stuff in high heels, he hired her. The next morning Shanebrook returned for a shoot to produce newspaper and magazine advertisements publicizing the show.
"After two hours of near frenzy," Shanebrook wrote, "I understood why models look so good. Almost anyone would, given this much attention."
Photos from the session were published in two local newspapers.
At the fashion show the designer chose Shanebrook for the finale. She took the stage in a slinky pantsuit.
"It felt strange being up there by myself, in this new role, as a model " she said. "After the show ended I felt pumped up from all of the attention."
Expanding career
Wanting to venture into print work, the developing model sent some photographs to Popular Magazine, a high-profile Indonesian publication. While away on a trip to Bali, the magazine faxed Shanebrook, inviting her to do a photo shoot and cover story in Jakarta.
When the magazine hit newsstands, Shanebrook went to buy some extra copies. She drew a crowd and ended up signing autographs.
"The entire affair was surreal -- was I on my way to becoming famous?" she wrote.
Definitely. Shanebrook has gone on to do commercials, starred as a Dutch mistress in a Colonial-era movie, and was recently voted Top Cover Girl in Indonesia.
Traveling the world
In addition to detailing her rise to international supermodel status, the book also touches on Shanebrook's travels.
In Bali she witnessed spirit possession and exorcism. The beauty was stricken with tropical influenza in Thailand, became lovesick for a handsome Colombian in the Gili Islands, practiced spiritual enlightenment with Hillary Clinton at a Buddhist temple in Indonesia, and partied hard in the French Riviera.
In the book's epilogue Shanebrook wrote, "Living and traveling in Asia and the rest of the world has afforded me an incredible adventure. My travels have given me an understanding that there are many ways to live one's life on Earth. With this understanding comes the realization that although we all exist in a certain framework, we can each choose our own path."
Today, Shanebrook teaches English to immigrants and foreign exchange students at Brooklyn College in New York. She still travels three or four times a year to Asia, where she is still in demand.