We’ve got Georgia on our mind with Amy Leigh Andrews, our Playmate of the Month for April 2010. She’s petite – 5’2” – and all natural, with honey-blonde hair and brown eyes. A student from Conyers, a small town near Atlanta, Amy is working on a master’s degree in communications. “I want to be a host or a news anchor someday,” she says. Amy was working as a cocktail waitress when she heard about a casting call in Atlanta.

“I used to read my uncle’s Playboys when I was a kid,” she says, “and I knew that I wanted to be a Playmate when I grow up.” She went to the casting, and after a few issues of Special Editions, she went one further by writing a personal letter to one of her idols, Holly Madison. It worked – Holly put in a good word, and Amy was Coed of the Week and Month in 2008.

A year later she tested for Playmate, and she passed with flying colors. “It’s totally surreal,” says Amy. “I can’t believe I’m finally a Playmate!” Amy is just as bold in her personal life as she is in her professional life. She loves to travel – at nineteen she backpacked through Europe with a friend, sleeping in hostels, meeting new people and sampling the local foods and wines. “I want to travel the world,” she says, emphatic. On the home front, she loves classic rock – “I’m crazy for The Eagles,” she says – and you’ll find her at an outdoor concert, dancing in the dirt with red cup in hand. “My favorite drink is a Jack and Coke,” she says, “but in Georgia, we put a cherry on top and call it a Tennessee Martini.” These days Amy lives in Manhattan Beach with her dog, Layla, and she’s a regular at the Playboy Mansion. “Being a Playmate is amazing,” she says. “And good job training, too – I’d better get used to being in front of the camera if I want to be an anchor.” Anchors away, Amy – we’ll train our cameras on you any time.

One morning not long ago, Amy Leigh Andrews awoke and checked her e-mail. “I screamed at the top of my lungs!” she now says. She found a note she had dreamed of receiving all her life. “Hef has approved you for Centerfold,” the missive read. “You can’t understand,” explains the tiny but voluptuous blonde who embodies both brains and liberated sexuality. “Some girls dream of becoming The Little Mermaid‘s Ariel, but not me. Since I was very young, since the first time I saw a Playmate, I wanted to appear in this magazine.” Originally from Conyers, Georgia, Amy is currently earning her master’s in communications on her way to fulfilling another dream: becoming an entertainment news anchor. “I love school,” says the 25-year-old. “Knowledge makes you independent and confident.” She has also always loved classic rock, hanging on the beach and traveling. Her introduction to Playboy came at an Atlanta casting call.

She appeared in a couple of Playboy Special Editions, and she wrote a personal letter to Holly Madison, pleading her case. “I’d just decided I was going to make this happen,” Amy says. Her work paid off, and you now hold the results in your hands. “It’s surreal, crazy, amazing and fantastic,” bubbles Miss April. “A Playmate at last!”