Stefanie Michaels

Stefanie Michaels, known to legion of fans as “Adventure Girlâ,” has carved a unique niche in the world of travel and entertainment. Her website AdventureGirl.com has been visited by millions of people looking for travel tips from the expert travel guide who has shared her expertise on CNN, UPN, ABC and NBC and she was voted in the Top 12 most downloaded women from Top Models Net, with 1.5 billion downloads. As a journalist her travel pieces have appeared in national and international magazines including Elite Traveler, Women’s Health & Fitness, Razor, FW, Southern California Bride, Wedding of Distinction, Malibu Magazine as well as Panamas’ 980 Magazine. As President of Adventuregirl.com she has been quoted in The New York Times business travel section as well as stories for Reuters International. In her new book, “Adventure Girl’s Guide to Finding Adventure…Without Breaking a Nail,” Stefanie takes the reader on 15 fabulous adventure destinations (New Zealand, Panama, Barbados) and gives them an intimate insider’s view. Stefanie’s passion for travel started when her parents took her on her first flight at six months of age. From early on, to present day, she travels extensively both for business and pleasure. It has always been about adventure for Stefanie (aka Adventure Girl), who embodies the spirit of her greatest heroine, Amelia Earhart. She lives by Earhart’s mantra “If someone asks you on an adventure, don’t refuse it!” This Los Angeles native began modeling and working in commercials at the age of three. A vivacious child, she booked several national commercials for companies such as M&M Candies, Ford Motor Company, and Betty Crocker. Modeling and acting jobs often took Stefanie on international travels. Back home, she spent two years as the KLOS “Cool Patrol Girl” promoting the Mark & Brian radio show, while continuing to model for swimwear companies such as La Blanca, Ujena, and Jamaica Style. Photographers she met during her modeling days submitted stock photos of Stefanie to poster, calendar, and postcard companies. Her fan base grew and so did her cross-country promotional trips for brands like Coca-Cola, Toyota, Seagrams, and Skil power tools. During a business trip to Australia a local radio station ran a contest, where people would listen to Stefanie every morning on a radio station for a week and do silly things to win the chance to eat breakfast with her in the middle of the race track in front of a crowd—crazy perhaps, but it got Stefanie thinking. E-mail was the new means of communication in the nineties and Stefanie quickly signed up. With an easy and efficient way to keep in touch with fans, who wanted to know where in the world she was and why, she became an online tour guide, documenting her travels. In the nascent years of the Internet, Stefanie created Travel Partners, where she kept a photo journal of her travels. The site became a popular destination for fans and in 2001, Stefanie hosted an innovative online travel “reality” show, before reality shows became mainstream. Visitors to the site entered online contests to win a dream adventure with the ultimate tour guide – Stefanie Michaels (soon after dubbed “Adventure Girl”) and her film crew. Trips included swimming with Dolphins at Paradise Island, feeding sharks in the Bahamas, trekking to a Mayan Ruin in Belize, on safari in South Africa. Mina Suvari, Garcelle Beauvais, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Fergie from the Brown Eyed Peas, and astronaut-Buzz Aldren are among some of the celebrities who share their travel secrets with Stefanie for her upcoming book “Celebrity Travel Adventures.” She is also working on her next books in her Adventure Girl’s Guide series- “Adventure Girl’s Guide to Finding Spas…Without Breaking a Nail,” and “Adventure Girl’s Guide to Finding Adventure…Without Breaking a Nail Part II. Stefanie recently signed a development deal with a Los Angeles based production company, Drama 34, and will bring her travel book series and adventures to life. She will be vlogging her Alaskan adventure as a Iditarider participant at Alaska’s famed Iditarod in March ’07. Currently, Stefanie resides in her hometown, Los Angeles, yet calls the world her home. She is a crazed animal lover sharing her home with rescued animals… four dogs and three cats. She attended UCLA’s journalism program, and is a member of Boston University’s Archeological Institute of America.