Canadian beauty Jayde Nicole went from small-town girl to big-time Playboy model to overwhelming fan favorite and now the 2008 Playmate of the Year. Here's what Jayde had to say just before accepting her new title at the Playmate of the Year Luncheon at the Mansion.

On Being a Canadian PMOY: "It's crazy. Everyone's been saying 'I hope you win,' but I've said, 'You know what? I'm Canadian, so there's no way; We haven't won Playmate of the Year in 30 years.' So, it made it a much greater shock. And I feel it's a little bit more responsibility, because I'm not just representing Playboy here in the U.S., but I'm going to be representing my whole country."

On Life in a Northern Town: "Port Perry, Ontario is a very, very small town on a nice little lake called Scugog. It's very quaint, kind of like a farming town, but it's up and coming. We're starting to slowly get restaurants. We don't have movie theaters or malls, but it's very peaceful. I feel like it made me who I am today. I wouldn't have chosen to grow up anywhere else."

On Being a Hometown Hero: "When I had my signing in Port Perry for my first January issue, I was so nervous, because I thought 'We can't have a signing; It's too small of a town, nobody is going to come.' And it was packed! They sold more than 300 magazines in the couple hours I was there. It seemed like everyone from the entire town was there!"

On the Fans: "I try to get back to everyone. I normally spend at least an hour on the computer writing back to people. I'm launching my new website in mid-May, and I have a feature on that where people can write to me, and I'm going to respond to every single person on there, too."

On Music: "I'm learning how to play the guitar. I listen to everything, but I mainly listen to rock. Rise Against is one of my favorite bands. My favorite concert so far was an AFI concert that I went to in Toronto. It was lots of fun."

On Giving Back: "I've been doing charity work since I can remember. It started very young. And now with Playboy I'm able to raise more money and awareness for the charities. I definitely want to do a really big fund-raiser either this summer or next summer -- a really big one."

On Fitness: "I've always been very much into beauty and fitness, health, nutrition and all that stuff. I've learned a lot of different tips and tricks from different models and celebrities and different countries. I just started writing it all down. I started receiving e-mails on MySpace and Facebook from people asking me all types of questions like 'What do you do to work out? What type of products do you use?' After I wrote back to about 50 of them, I thought, I'm just going to write a book."

On Her Aquaphobia: "I am terrified of the ocean, which is so weird because all I want to do is be by the ocean. I know I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling over this year, so I'm hoping to go swim in an ocean at some point."

On Her Most Memorable Playboy Moment: "I definitely remember my first Playboy Halloween party. I was kind of naive before I was in Playboy. I had never seen a Playboy magazine, I obviously had heard of Playboy and the Mansion. I didn't have an idea of what it was going to be like. I was an ice queen. I was wearing a full dress to the ground. It was a strapless, big poofy dress. I was the most dressed person there. Probably an hour or so into the party I went back and changed into a white crystal lingerie piece, because I felt so out of place."

On Her Future: "It's so hard when I try and look ahead, because I feel like if you would have asked me two years ago where I would be right now, I wouldn't be standing in the Playboy Mansion. I know that I want to be doing something that has to do with health and fitness and wellness. I hope to be in the same field, still traveling, still enjoying my job. I don't want to be sitting behind a desk."

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