[Archive 2008-02-07] 'Top Model' winner CariDee English on her modeling career and her battle with psoriasis

Historical archive — originally published 2008-02-07. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Since winning the reality television series America's Next Top Model in December 2006, CariDee English, a small-town girl from Fargo, North Dakota, was plucked from relative obscurity to be the new look for CoverGirl Cosmetics, the newest fresh face on the cover of Seventeen, and affiliated with the largest modeling agency in the world, Elite Model Management.

However, she feels her greatest accomplishment is being the spokeswoman for the National Psoriasis Foundation, in which she is a motivational speaker and gives encouragement to psoriasis sufferers. CariDee has even lobbied in Congress for the passage of a bill which would ask the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Institute of Medicine to increase spending on finding a cure for psoriasis. You can read more about her role with the National Psoriasis Foundation here.

Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman sat down and talked with CariDee earlier in the week to discuss her own issues with psoriasis, how she has helped other sufferers in her role as spokeswoman for the Foundation, as well as what it's like to be a new model in New York City and her thoughts on how the fashion industry operates today.

This is the second in a series of articles with America's Next Top Model contestants. Articles will be published sporadically.

CE: Oh, no, I didn't get to go! I've been in New York for Fashion Week. Did someone tell you I went?

MH: Yeah, Jose [her manager at Elite Model Management] told me you had. Well, did you have a team to root for, anyway?

CE: Of course! I was going for New York! This was the first time that a team won in the state I was living in! I'm from North Dakota, and we don't have any professional teams, so it was pretty cool.

MH: I'd imagine it's a big change moving from small-town North Dakota to New York City. What do you remember thinking in your first weeks in New York City?

CE: I don't know...it was kind of overwhelming! I remember being overwhelmed. There were trash and pigeons everywhere...and an endless amount of walking! But you know, I just love how big it is and how there are just...endless dreams. You have the opportunity to accomplish so much here.

MH: Well, you were a fashion photographer, you could have went back there for some work...although I don't know how much you'd be in demand there.

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