Photo: Bruce Weber
There's something amazing about Brad. Not only because he's an Abercrombie model or a national water polo athlete but there's more to Brad that goes beyond his gorgeous looks and athletic accomplishments. In our exclusive interview with Brad, he talks about important international and environmental issues. Discover him, exclusively at NEXT. Premiering in the Blogosphere's Most Admired Modeling Blogazine, Typepad Certified Best WebBlog, NEXT Hottest Model, Ready to go NEXT with Brad?
Brad Greiner is the NEXT Hottest Model
Always Exciting. Always NEXT.
Full Editorial Feature with Brad after the jump!
Photo: Bruce Weber
"My style is pretty simple when it comes to fashion. I really believe in the example American Apparel is setting with American-made clothing in sweatshop free conditions. So while their designs are pretty basic, the majority of my everyday shirts come from there. We also used American Apparel for our line of clothing through Team Darfur. Other than that, you can never go wrong with Ralph Lauren."
"Family and friends are the first two things that come to mind when asked what I can't live without. After that probably comes my Macbook to keep me connected to the world and at the other end of the spectrum, yoga to keep me grounded. The last thing would probably be a swimming pool, because after spending my life in the pool with water polo practice, moving to NYC for 2 years was a very hard transition because of the limited access to pools in the city."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"The best thing for me about being a model is meeting so many creative people. I've spent the majority of the last 5 years in college, often where creativity is pushed to the back burner. Meeting, working with and learning from the highly creative people in this industry has been amazing."
"Team Darfur is an international coalition of professional and Olympic athletes that are committed to raising funds and awareness for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. In June of 2007 while living in NYC I approached my friend Barrett Sheridan (a brilliant 24 year old writer for Newsweek) about the very basic idea of having Olympians speak about Darfur leading up to and while in Beijing. My senior year of college I had written a paper about China's quest for oil and the dangers of purchasing oil from regimes like Sudan without first setting preconditions for signing those oil contracts. In 2007 I was also reading a lot of reports about how serious China was taking these Olympic Games. I told Barrett I was going to take the idea to the Save Darfur Coalition (the largest Darfur awareness group), and he suggested it would be a great organization to start on our own. So in 2007 we started it, with basically nothing but an idea. From there we approached the Olympians I knew from UCLA and it grew and grew to over 400 athletes from over 65 countries, all learning about the crisis in Darfur and speaking about it at every chance they had. Along the way I also merged nonprofits with Joey Cheek, a 2006 Olympic speed skater that was working on basically the same idea."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"Good question…there's a ton of rejection in modeling and it's important to deal with it in a positive way. I think what has been important for me is realizing my self-worth is completely separate from the jobs that I book, or more importantly the ones that I don't book. I've been lucky to run a nonprofit for the past year and a half, and by focusing my attention on working for others, it has been much easier to deal with rejection by knowing that there's more to me than just modeling."
"In 2004 we won an NCAA championship against Stanford, in their pool. It was an amazing game and we won in overtime 10-9. Our entire season was up and down, but the senior leadership on the team really made the difference when it came to the NCAA tournament and championship game. Since I was busy with 6 hours of practice a day during that season, I shot the Abercrombie and Fitch campaign on 2 separate days in Santa Barbara and Florida. It was the first real shoot I had ever been on, and because my mind was so intensely focused on water polo the entire season, I didn't have the time or energy to over think the scope of what I was getting myself into when shooting with a photographer like Bruce. About 2 weeks after we won the championship I received a call and package from Bruce with the 6 or so photos that would be used on all the Abercrombie campaigns. As you can imagine, I was on a high the entire month."
"There are many ways readers can help Darfur in general and Team Darfur specifically. If you take a second to go to www.teamdarfur.org, you can learn more about the crisis and take some easy steps to do your part to help end the genocide. One way would be making sure you're divested from funds that support the Sudanese regime by asking your financial manager. Without money, they can't purchase weapons from China.
We worked with our athletes to help fund a few projects in Darfur that help the people affected by the crisis directly. You can also check out our website to see the partner orgs we are working with to make a difference on the ground. Please donate if you can…
Lastly, with the results of the elections up, we are looking forward for our new President Elect's programs for Darfur as financial aid alone will not end this crisis, and we are confident that our President Elect would work WITH the international community to end the genocide in Darfur."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"To the person out there looking in the mirror and asking himself whether he can be a model, I would say that beauty in life lies in the differences between each and every one of us. Fashion would be boring if it didn't expand and adapt the boundaries of what is beautiful, and therefore I say you have nothing to loose and should go for it if you're passionate about the craft. This should be your thought process regardless of whether or not someone in the industry is telling you your look is "in" or "out."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"Modeling provides me with opportunities to meet such a wide variety of people, most of which share a common interest in creating beautiful art. I love that modeling allows me to express this creative side of myself that I don't get to use very often in the business or nonprofit worlds."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"When I shot with Bruce we spoke a bit about America's recent obsession with the gym and the pitfalls that come along with placing too much emphasis on achieving the "perfect" body. To the person looking in the mirror and not thinking their body is good enough to model, I would say focus on being healthy more than spending your life in the gym. There are so many great ways to get a workout that don't involve spending 3 hours in the gym- go for a hike, swim in the ocean, surf. And hell, read a book every now and again while you're at it…"
Photo: Bruce Weber
"I think photographers see a challenge in working with me since I am not your standard 6'-6"2" model. Being closer to 6'4", there is often a lot of improvising that goes into the shoots to fit the clothing. This creates a bigger challenge for photographers that typically don't have to worry about these issues. I would like photographers to see me more as a creative partner in the shooting process in the future, because I think when they do, the pictures turn out far better."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"We received quite a bit of media attention through Team Darfur, and the first out of place situation that comes to mind is learning how to speak with reporters. I had never had media training and the first interview I gave happened to be to the Wall Street Journal. I guess the biggest oops moment was speaking a bit too loosely and the affects certain comments can have when they end up on the front page of the WSJ, NY Times etc. Luckily, I never said anything too bad, but during those interviews I did catch myself in a few oops! moments."
"During my sophomore year at UCLA, a friend suggested that I look into the little known major at UCLA called International Development Studies because she thought it was right up my alley. I looked into it and fell in love. Over the next 2 years at UCLA I started to take my education very seriously and learned about a variety of the problems facing our world and developing regions specifically. Now that I know about these problems, I find it impossible not to use my skills to help come up with solutions."
Brad during the Beijing Olymprics received a lot of media attention, and so is Team Darfur, "The most likely chance you've heard of Team Darfur is because my co-founder and I had our visas revoked from China the day before we were scheduled to leave to support our Olympic athletes on Team Darfur in Beijing. It was a great experience learning how news cycles work and just what the power of a good idea can lead to." When asked about what's next for Team Darfur now that the Olympics is over, Brad shares, "Our goal with Team Darfur was to generate awareness during the 2008 Olympics, and now that they've come and gone there is no longer a need to staff 4 people and 8 interns. We have recently passed the nonprofit on to the Save Darfur Coalition. The past few months I have been working to make the transition to Save Darfur seamless, and they are doing a great job managing our website, initiatives and athletes. I am grateful to see that the idea lives on and more athletes continue to join to call on China and the international community to bring positive change to the people of Darfur." His other projects besides Modeling and Team Darfur? "I recently read that every 6 months or so Bill Clinton writes down a list of the 10 most important world issues to him. I began doing this monthly about a year ago, and it has really focused my attention on the issues I care deeply about and ways I can go about making a difference. Near the top of my list every month has been environmental issues for the past few months, and because of that I have been spending the majority of my free time working on a couple business plans for green companies. The first is called Pledge Electric and the website was up last November 4th. It is a simple website where consumers can go to pledge to purchase an electric vehicle the next time they purchase a car. We need to send a message to the auto industry that consumers are demanding electric cars to end our dependence on foreign oil, and while there are a lot of fuel options being explored right now, I think the most logical option is driving a car that runs on electricity. The second company is much bigger in focus and is in the development phase, and so you'll just have to check out my model mayhem page in the future for that!" Brad's education at UCLA, had started him on a lifetime goal of making the biggest positive change in this world, and for him that commitment is his driving force in life, as that what makes him, Brad Greiner.
Special thanks to Photographer Bruce Weber
Discover Brad, click Brad Greiner. Learn more about Brad's initiative projects click Team Darfur and Pledge Electric
Brad Greiner is the NEXT Hottest Model.
Photo: Bruce Weber for Abercrombie & Fitch
"I am most interested in modeling because it gives me more freedom in my life to work on projects that I really care about- Darfur, the environment, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, renewable energy, and finally helping Barack Obama get elected! Modeling gave me the freedom to drive out to the swing state of Nevada the past few days to volunteer for Obama and speak with people about the issues that people care about most. So whatever your passion is, modeling gives you much more freedom than most jobs to pursue it."
Always Exciting. Always NEXT.
Photo: Bruce Weber
"To the person out there looking in the mirror and asking himself whether he can be a model, I would say that beauty in life lies in the differences between each and every one of us. Fashion would be boring if it didn't expand and adapt the boundaries of what is beautiful, and therefore I say you have nothing to loose and should go for it if you're passionate about the craft. This should be your thought process regardless of whether or not someone in the industry is telling you your look is "in" or "out."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"Modeling provides me with opportunities to meet such a wide variety of people, most of which share a common interest in creating beautiful art. I love that modeling allows me to express this creative side of myself that I don't get to use very often in the business or nonprofit worlds."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"When I shot with Bruce we spoke a bit about America's recent obsession with the gym and the pitfalls that come along with placing too much emphasis on achieving the "perfect" body. To the person looking in the mirror and not thinking their body is good enough to model, I would say focus on being healthy more than spending your life in the gym. There are so many great ways to get a workout that don't involve spending 3 hours in the gym- go for a hike, swim in the ocean, surf. And hell, read a book every now and again while you're at it…"
Photo: Bruce Weber
"I think photographers see a challenge in working with me since I am not your standard 6'-6"2" model. Being closer to 6'4", there is often a lot of improvising that goes into the shoots to fit the clothing. This creates a bigger challenge for photographers that typically don't have to worry about these issues. I would like photographers to see me more as a creative partner in the shooting process in the future, because I think when they do, the pictures turn out far better."
Photo: Bruce Weber
"We received quite a bit of media attention through Team Darfur, and the first out of place situation that comes to mind is learning how to speak with reporters. I had never had media training and the first interview I gave happened to be to the Wall Street Journal. I guess the biggest oops moment was speaking a bit too loosely and the affects certain comments can have when they end up on the front page of the WSJ, NY Times etc. Luckily, I never said anything too bad, but during those interviews I did catch myself in a few oops! moments."
"During my sophomore year at UCLA, a friend suggested that I look into the little known major at UCLA called International Development Studies because she thought it was right up my alley. I looked into it and fell in love. Over the next 2 years at UCLA I started to take my education very seriously and learned about a variety of the problems facing our world and developing regions specifically. Now that I know about these problems, I find it impossible not to use my skills to help come up with solutions."
Brad during the Beijing Olymprics received a lot of media attention, and so is Team Darfur, "The most likely chance you've heard of Team Darfur is because my co-founder and I had our visas revoked from China the day before we were scheduled to leave to support our Olympic athletes on Team Darfur in Beijing. It was a great experience learning how news cycles work and just what the power of a good idea can lead to." When asked about what's next for Team Darfur now that the Olympics is over, Brad shares, "Our goal with Team Darfur was to generate awareness during the 2008 Olympics, and now that they've come and gone there is no longer a need to staff 4 people and 8 interns. We have recently passed the nonprofit on to the Save Darfur Coalition. The past few months I have been working to make the transition to Save Darfur seamless, and they are doing a great job managing our website, initiatives and athletes. I am grateful to see that the idea lives on and more athletes continue to join to call on China and the international community to bring positive change to the people of Darfur." His other projects besides Modeling and Team Darfur? "I recently read that every 6 months or so Bill Clinton writes down a list of the 10 most important world issues to him. I began doing this monthly about a year ago, and it has really focused my attention on the issues I care deeply about and ways I can go about making a difference. Near the top of my list every month has been environmental issues for the past few months, and because of that I have been spending the majority of my free time working on a couple business plans for green companies. The first is called Pledge Electric and the website was up last November 4th. It is a simple website where consumers can go to pledge to purchase an electric vehicle the next time they purchase a car. We need to send a message to the auto industry that consumers are demanding electric cars to end our dependence on foreign oil, and while there are a lot of fuel options being explored right now, I think the most logical option is driving a car that runs on electricity. The second company is much bigger in focus and is in the development phase, and so you'll just have to check out my model mayhem page in the future for that!" Brad's education at UCLA, had started him on a lifetime goal of making the biggest positive change in this world, and for him that commitment is his driving force in life, as that what makes him, Brad Greiner.
Special thanks to Photographer Bruce Weber
Discover Brad, click Brad Greiner. Learn more about Brad's initiative projects click Team Darfur and Pledge Electric
Brad Greiner is the NEXT Hottest Model.
Photo: Bruce Weber for Abercrombie & Fitch
"I am most interested in modeling because it gives me more freedom in my life to work on projects that I really care about- Darfur, the environment, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, renewable energy, and finally helping Barack Obama get elected! Modeling gave me the freedom to drive out to the swing state of Nevada the past few days to volunteer for Obama and speak with people about the issues that people care about most. So whatever your passion is, modeling gives you much more freedom than most jobs to pursue it."
Always Exciting. Always NEXT.
