Christie Jenkins

excerpts from The Seattle Times
and The Dallas Morning News

"Christie Jenkins is a trendsetter in spite of herself. Her hits come from the innate understanding of what's needed in the marketplace; her misses are when she developes ideas just ahead of their time. She lived the adage 'perseverance will win out' by constantly falling and getting up, going for the goal, as from ages 6 to 18, Christie trained seriously to be a Champion Figure Skater, a sport that was about to become a hit. Just missing that brass ring, she turned her creativity to theatre and photography.

In 1980, G.P. Putnam’s Sons took a chance on her persuasive insistence that females would like to see quality, lovely photographs of men from the backside, and thus the landmark book BUNS: A Woman Looks at Men’s, was born. It and the subsequent five calendars sold over one million copies, and NY literary circles credited her with starting 'the women’s market in publishing.'

Her refreshing outlook made Christie a popular talk show guest, and to prove her salt she kept her role as a Sunday School teacher while continuing male photography. Soon, Andy Warhol invited her to be the photographer for his Interview magazine, but she turned it down due to the lifestyle it involved, and instead it made Annie Liebowitz famous. Next, a hot editor set it up for Miss Jenkins to be the first female columnist for Esquire magazine, due to her humorous writings on men & dating, but when they insisted the column be of a more sexual nature, she walked away; that emissary went on to find and support Candace Bushnell. Hits or misses? 'I’d rather rest on my morals than my laurels,' she laughs.

No matter. By 1988 she was recognized as the most widely published photographer of figure skating in the world, with two Olympics, nine World Championships, and dozens of magazines, book covers, and posters to her credit. TIME Magazine voted one shot from Sarajevo as 'The Best Sports Photograph of the Year.' Celebrities on both coasts soon found her to be an insightful portrait photographer, and her images continue to appear in international magazines today. She has been given three one-woman shows of her work, in New York, Seattle, and Dallas.

With twelve scripts penned, some optioned, and development deals offered for new television show concepts (some, she admits, were dubbed 'too unique to try'), she then purchased the broadcast rights to the two largest ballroom dance championships in America, with a clear vision as to how to reinvent the Fred Astaire era she feels the masses naturally crave. Frustrated by repeat network turndowns, she kept her eyes open for another trend to start, and surprised even herself by what she chose. A bit of backstory is required here.

Born and bred in Dallas to the charismatic Dr. M.T. Pepper Jenkins, the beloved Chief of Anesthesiology at University of Texas SouthWestern Medical School and Parkland Hospital, the fact that he led the team to resuscitate President John F. Kennedy that fateful day in 1963, at times overshadowed his true contributions to medicine. Her beautiful Quaker mother, Elizabeth Weaver Jenkins, did World Service work for Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and later for the global missions of the United Methodist Church.

So. Raised with this expansive world view, when Christie’s parents passed away, she felt moved to use her inheritance for something that would serve millions. Upon meeting Deaf actor Anthony Natale, and not being able to find a home video to learn his language, she chose to commit every cent she had to make this learning tool available. And now, How to Talk to a Person Who Can’t Hear is the #1 Sign Language video in America for the general public, and Miss Jenkins is on her way to bridging another large gap in the world she sees around her - that of the deaf and the hearing. This Miss is a hit."

Permanent contact information for Christie Jenkins:

P.O. Box 11429
Bainbridge Island, Washington 98110
Phone: 1.888.532-7674; Fax: 1.888.749-7446
E-mail: VideoCreator@aol.com
www.SignLanguageVideo.com
www.ChristieJenkins.com

For the entire unique story of how she was inspired to create this video, click here.