Cindy Taylor was born in Asuncion, Paraguay, on April 18, 1977. The daughter of a Paraguayan mother of Italian and Portuguese descent, and an American father, Cindy grew up in Clarksburg, West Virginia. When she was eight, Cindy’s parents divorced, and she moved back to Asuncion with her mother, where she resided for 10 years.
Cindy grew up in two worlds, learning English as her native language but speaking Spanish exclusively while in Paraguay. As a teenager, she was skinny, which was awkward in Paraguay, where sexiness is equated more with voluptuousness. “I wasn’t one of those little girls who always wanted to model,” Cindy admits. In fact, she dreamed of being an architect, but there was little opportunity for that in Paraguay.
In 1997, Taylor moved back to America. Settling in Miami, she resolved to relearn English, a language she had not spoken in over a decade. Soon she was approached by people asking if she was a model, and the interest encouraged Cindy to look into the business. She assembled a portfolio and before she knew it, was working in Milan as an Irene Marie model.
Taylor’s career snowballed from there. She appeared on the cover of magazines like Shape, Ocean Drive, Ocean Drive’s Spanish edition, and Men’s Journal. Modeling was balanced with Cindy’s work on many high-profile advertising campaigns for companies such as Guess?, Van Heusen, Matrix, Pantene, and Perry Ellis.
Lately, Cindy became a spokeswoman for Frito-Lay’s Tostitos Gold, munching the snacks with fellow spokesmen Jay Leno, Little Richard and Steve Harwell of Smash Mouth. Cindy insists that the chips are great too, “and I’m not just saying that because I’m the spokesperson.”
In the summer of 2002, Cindy answered an open call to replace Brooke Burke, host of E!’s travel show Wild On. Casting directors had scouted Australia, South Africa, Europe, Australia, and the Philippines, and had to choose from almost 10,000 applicants. Cindy, who had stopped by after a shoot at the Versace mansion in Miami, was asked to come back despite the fact that she was disheveled and tired. More auditions narrowed the competition; in the end, Cindy was selected. “She was my number one pick,” Brooke Burke confessed.
Now Taylor gets paid to travel exotic locales and explore their nightlife. In her first five months on the job, she has visited 25 cities in a dozen countries. “It’s pure adrenaline,” Cindy explains, as Wild On has opened her up to all sorts of new experiences, from eating fried worms in Thailand and swimming with sharks to skydiving - even though, irony of ironies, Cindy is afraid of flying. (She refused to admit it when trying out for Wild On because she was afraid she wouldn’t get the job.)
When Taylor isn’t globetrotting, she divides her time between New York and Miami with her new husband, wine importer Guillermo Barrail, whom Cindy met in Asuncion over Christmas 2000. Meanwhile, Cindy loves to dance to Latin music and eat her favorite Paraguayan dishes. She takes life’s developments in stride; “I’m just learning as I go.”