Lisa Ramos is just like us. She quotes T. Swift, loves all kinds of pizza and classic Beatles songs, and has gone on nightmare first dates. She even went to SUNY Old Westbury! “I was actually wearing my big Old Westbury t-shirt for pajamas the other night,” she affirms. The difference, however, is that Lisa Ramos has the lifesaving dating advice that we’ve all been desperately searching for and she shares it in her new book, Pizza & Chill? ;): How to Kinda Sorta Date. Oh, also she was on America’s Next Top Model and MTV’s Guy Code!
Lisa’s path from college to becoming an author was a unique and exciting one. She attended SUNY Old Westbury in 2008 and was a resident in building 5 for the summer program. “I did CSTEP [The Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program] which was for people that had pretty good grades. I had the entire on-campus experience, like I would go to the cafe and walk up that winding ramp!” Ramos even maintained a 4.0 while at Old Westbury! She says her experience dorming was super fun and of course it was great being able to “roll out of bed and go to class.”
After Old Westbury, Lisa Ramos transferred to Stony Brook for a semester to “see how that would work out because the LIRR goes right to the campus,” from Lisa’s hometown of Queens. “Then I was like, ‘you know what, I don’t really want to go to school anymore’ so I took a leave of absence and then I signed to a modeling agency and I got onto America’s Next Top Model,” Lisa shares. “But I was only on there for one episode, I got eliminated immediately. I’m no good for reality TV!”
After that, Ramos continued working as a model and gathering a following on YouTube with her BFF Melanie Iglesias, who she met on America’s Next Top Model. They were the only two Latinas in the top 40 and agreed to be friends no matter what the outcome was. “We looked so much alike and we were so much alike that we were like ‘alright girl, it’s gonna be me or you.’” The beautiful duo attracted lots of attention and MTV’s Guy Code “loved what [they] were doing” and asked Ramos to join her gal pal on the show. Ramos says her experience on Guy Code was a blast and that her coworkers, a bunch of comedians, were great. “You literally just get the talking points that you’re going to discuss on the episode and you get to give your opinion on it! It was so easy- the best job ever!”
After being on Guy Code, Ramos says that she got bombarded with relationship questions on social media. “I figured I may as well answer them and put them in a book because there were so many. And now I have more than ever,” Ramos laughs.
Throughout the book, readers can hear Lisa’s voice and feel her energy. Ramos had a lot of creative control in making the book and designed the photoshoots, made the playlists and even included emoji’s within the text! “I picked the pictures and the quotes. I wanted it to be an easy read too, nobody wants to sit down and read small print, 400 pages of my opinion. Instead, here are the questions and here are my answers, these are my favorite songs, there you go!”
When asked she took from the experience, Ramos says, “It was humbling to know people really cared about my opinion!” She continues, “There are a lot of people with influence that should not be giving advice so I must be doing something right and I look sane to people.”
Ramos adds, “I just hope I gave good advice and that it resonates with a lot of people and that readers can say ‘oh I can use this advice’ or ‘wow there are a lot of people dealing with the same exact thing.’”
Before agreeing to writing the book, Ramos prayed about it. “I said ‘okay God, let me give good advice because I don’t want to be responsible for ruining anybody’s anything!’”
As for advice for college students, Lisa takes a different approach than we often hear. “If you’re going to do anything in this industry you have to network a lot, have integrity, and keep your word. Be good to the people that you’re working with and don’t try to be so cutthroat. I never tried to be that way and because of that people want to help me because I always helped them!”
Lisa plans to continue the “Pizza & Chill” brand and looks forwards to working on similar projects! Find the book at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, IndieBound!
