#1,015 - Aurora Diaz Plaja-Birch

Aurora Diaz-Plaja Birch - The Third World Girl in Buzios from Last Mango in Paris is a special guest on The Paul Leslie Hour.

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Ya know, it's fascinating when a photo makes its way around the world, but the person in the picture isn't necessarily known. The inspiration and subject of this episode are connected to an album cover, "The Last Mango in Paris." Ya know it? There's two people in the picture. One of course was Jimmy Buffett, but who was the other person? Hmmm.

Do you ever wonder about the story behind a picture? Jimmy Buffett once sang, "A picture's worth a thousand words, just ask a cameraman." That's interesting and a good point. A photo at times can spark the imagination. It can even tell a story.

Well, our guest, Aurora Diaz-Plaja Birch, has been photographed quite a lot. She said: "Modeling or acting was a very unlikely pursuit for me. As a child I hid from the camera -- even begged my mother not to buy the school photos as I didn't want to trade mine with classmates."

Aurora never would've considered a career as a model until working as a waitress at a disco/night club in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The hired photographer asked to do a photo shoot with her. You see he wanted to enter her into a Miss Black Velvet Contest with a $50,000 prize.

Here's the thing: to enter the contest, you had to be 21. She wasn't. So the photographer gave her the photographs and encouraged her to take them to a modeling agency.

This was the beginning of a career in modeling, but as Aurora puts it, "it was always a means to an end and the end was to travel." From that standpoint, it was a success as she was able to travel to Japan and Spain.

But, remember the cover of "Last Mango in Paris"? That picture you could say is what led Paul to try to locate the woman who depicted the "Third World Girl in Buzios." We're pleased to welcome her to tell you all a part of her story.

And The Paul Leslie Hour is all about helping people tell their stories, been doing it for a long time. Just go right here, and we thank you!

Ummm. If the phone doesn't ring, who is it? Okay. It's time. Shall we begin?

The Paul Leslie Hour is a talk show dedicated to “Helping People Tell Their Stories.” Some of the most iconic people of all time drop in to chat. Frequent topics include Arts, Entertainment and Culture.