She Wasn't Always an adventurer. Growing up in small-town Indiana, Jami Ferrell was the shy girl in the last row of the classroom—the one looking dreamily out the window. "I was always reserved, even painfully shy. I didn't have any friends," says Miss January. Today, a grown-up beauty of 22, she still speaks in a voice as soft as a little girl's. Her hazel eyes shy away from a stranger's gaze. Yet there's something besides shyness here, something that constantly defies the quiet angels of her nature. There's a rebel in Jami, too. One day after graduating from high school, she went to the airport in Indianapolis, near her hometown of New Castle. "I had never flown in a plane, never been outside the Midwest," she says. Plunking down her Visa card, she was asked for a destination. "I chose Los Angeles. That sounded exciting." Soon she was wandering through Beverly Hills and Hollywood. She made friends with a few locals. "People are much more outgoing here, friendlier and more persistent than the folks back home," says Jami. One was too persistent. A fast-talking modeling agent invited Jami for an interview. Time and place: Sunset. The man offered Jami a deal. He could make her a star, he said, but first things first. "I stood up and left. That was the day I learned to be careful." Low on money, she took a small apartment in a dangerous part of East Los Angeles. Then Jami spotted a newspaper ad: Nannies Wanted. What better job for a quiet Midwestern girl? She got a position as a nanny in Malibu, where Miss January now looks after the children of a high-powered, high-profile California couple. "I love my life here. I love the kids, too. But even this won't last forever," she says, gazing at a spectacular Pacific sunset. "I know I'll just get restless again."
Playmate Data Sheet
Name: Jami Ferrel
Bust: 36
Waist: 22
Hips: 35
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 118
Birth Date: 6/20/74
Birthplace: Muncie, IN
Ambitions: To travel, to keep meeting new people and to become self-sufficient
Turn-Ons: Birtish accents, polo, strangers and nature in its wild state.
Turnoffs: Arrogance, grunge, insensitivity and stupidity.
Dream Land: Kenya–I dream of going there.
Advocations: Collecting old books, antiques equitation and trying new things on the spur of the moment.
Small-Town Girls: I can't speak for others, but this small-town girl was always drawn toward the big city.
Aphrodisiac: Red Wine.
Choice Moment: When the sun sets in the Pacific.
