Everybody wins with Shanna Marie McLaughlin, our Playmate of the Month for July 2010. She’s tall – 5’8” – and all natural, with wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and full lips. A model, actress and entrepreneur, Shanna was working as an account manager for an event planning company in Florida when she was transferred to Los Angeles. “I saw an ad casting for a new Playboy TV series, Playboy Shootout,” she says. “I had been casting all over town, and most directors told me my boobs were too big. I figured the one thing I had left to do was Playboy.” She went to the audition, got the part and competed against nine other girls for the chance to win a spread – and not to mention a Centerfold – in our magazine. She beat out the competition to become Miss July 2010, and needless to say, her boobs were not too big for Playboy.

“Shootout was like Playmate boot camp,” says Shanna. “I had never posed nude before, and standing nude in front of the judges – some of them former Playmates – got me ready to shoot my pictorial.” Shanna’s modeling career has taken off, and now she wants to focus her efforts on business. “When I became Miss July, I was a few credits away from a master’s in business administration,” she says. “I want to start a grant for women, kind of like an angel investment firm, to help them fund new businesses. You know, not all Playmates are dumb blondes – most of us have good business sense.” Not to mention a sense of conscience – Shanna solicits donations to charity on her Twitter page, and she recently hosted a cocktail party for MS research. When she’s not working – and she’s always working – she hangs around the house with her dog, Layla, cooking and spending a bit of well-earned time on the couch. “I’ve seen every episode of Seinfeld at least once,” she admits. Shanna is close with her fellow Playmates, and she’s a regular at the Mansion. With the body of a Playmate and the head of a top account executive, we think it’s safe to say that Shanna was a good investment.

Not long after arriving in Los Angeles from Orlando last August, Shanna Marie McLaughlin spotted an ad on Craigslist for a new Playboy TV reality series, Playboy Shootout. Sensing the perfect opportunity to launch a modeling and acting career, she decided to try out for the show, a contest featuring 10 models and 10 photographers, each vying for a chance to appear in the magazine. Shanna not only aced the audition, she won the entire competition. “The whole experience of being judged while naked and surrounded by cameras was amazing but also completely nuts!” says the 25-year-old, who describes herself as a “guy’s girl” for her love of fishing, football and darts. “It was like Playmate boot camp.”

With her modeling career successfully under way, Shanna now hopes to turn her attention to another passion – business. Before leaving for California, she was three classes shy of earning a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Central Florida. In fact, she already co-owns an event-planning company in Florida called Tiki Bash (“Get tropically impaired,” boasts its website). “I want to use my business background and stature as a Playmate to help form a charitable foundation that acts as an angel investment firm for women looking to go to graduate school or start their own company,” she explains. “I am determined to fight the stereotype perpetuated by the media that Playmates are all ditzy blondes. Personally, I am incredibly proud of this experience. Becoming a Playmate was always a dream of mine, so now that the dream has come true, watch out!”