Yoanna House (born April 9, 1980) is an American
fashion model and television host, best known as the winner of
Cycle 2 of
America's Next Top Model.
Biography
House was born and raised in
Jacksonville, Florida. House's father, a physician, is from Canada and her mother is from Mexico.
From early childhood, House showed great interest in
fashion, which she claims was spurred by her grandmother, saying:
" I was always in her closet. We would watch TV, read magazines, go to the mall. She taught me about couture and how important it was. A lot of my appreciation came from her".
After graduating from Bishop Kenny High School in 1998, House attended the
University of North Florida, majoring in international relations and Asian studies. House speaks fluent Japanese as well as Spanish (which she spoke from a young age).
Around this time, House also began to pursue a career in fashion modeling, but claimed she found her options limited because she was overweight. She says she eventually lost 45 pounds after changing her diet and adopting an exercise plan.
Her son Alastair was born in August 2008.
She lives in
New York City with her husband and son.
Career
Yoanna was the winner of Cycle 2 of
America's Next Top Model.
After
Top Model, she signed with
IMG Models. House made her debut as a runway model at the
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in 2004, walking for
fashion designers Petro Zillia, Custo Barcelona, Sue Wong, and John Sakalis.
Her most visible modeling assignments immediately after her win include a commercial for the
Declare Yourself voting campaign and a cover story for
Psychology Today magazine.
She became host of
The Look for Less in 2005, replacing Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
The following year, House was named "the face" of
The CW network
and appeared in commercials and web advertisements for the fledgling network. In overseas projects, she signed with Danish modeling agency 1st Opinion Model Management
and won a contract with Careline, an
Israeli cosmetics company.
She appeared in a commercial for make-up brand Sheer Cover,
Leeza Gibbons's make-up line, along with
Cycle 4 winner of
America's Next Top Model Naima Mora.
In the Summer of 2008, Yoanna hosted The N's reality series
Queen Bees, which attempts to reform mean girls.
[Shows| The N — Queen Bees] She has also filmed a PSA for Declare Yourself, parodying a lipstick commercial.
[www.declareyourself.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=3&video=1395]