About Me
American Model & ENTREPRENEUR
Ann Kirsten Kennis is a model, entrepreneur, and breast cancer survivor. In the '80s and early '90s, she was a model with Ford and Elite modeling agencies in New York City. Her face appeared on many brands including L'Oréal, Revlon, Wella, Faberge, Avon, Ivory, Color Me Beautiful, Schwarzkopf, Vaseline, American Standard. In addition, she was a fashion model for Jordache, PGA, Macy's, Bloomingdales, JC Penney, and Belks, to name a few. She traveled to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain for catalog and editorial work as well. In 1983, she was chosen as a judge for the Miss USA Pageant, introduced as a leading International Fashion Model.
In 2009 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After surgeries and chemotherapy, she was putting cancer behind her when her daughter Alex found a photo of her mom in younger days on a banner ad while doing homework, then the image was appearing all over the internet. The American indie rock band VAMPIRE WEEKEND used an old polaroid of her on their mega-selling rock album CONTRA without her permission. Her image was seen worldwide and sold millions of albums.
Encouraged by a photographer as well as family and friends, Ann Kirsten Kennis has returned to modeling again in the 50yrs + young market!
Vampire Weekend Contra Album
On the cover of a no.1 album
Kennis learned that an old Polaroid picture of herself was being used to promote the No. 1 album in the country, she was anything but pleased, she says. Kennis had never heard of the band, Vampire Weekend, and had no idea how her image had made its way onto the cover of the group’s new album, Contra. Nor had she heard of Tod Brody, the photographer who claims to have taken the photo.