Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/506796
Those are traits Miller possesses in abundance. She's a well-balanced, genuinely warm and nice individual, seemingly unaffected by all the accolades heaped on her over the course of her modeling career for the world's top fashion and lifestyle publications. When she made her debut at number one on the 2008 Maxim "Hot 100" list, she was characteristically realistic. "The women on that list are amazing, so to be on it for the first time and have this position is crazy," she told one reporter. "I'm not one to walk around and strut like Miss Thing, so I'm pretty humbled." To another, she said, "I get a kick out of it, but it would be stupid to let it go to my head. It's modeling—I didn't find the cure for cancer." NO PLACE LIKE HOME Marisa Lee Miller (nee Bertetta) was born and raised in Santa Cruz, attending Aptos High and Monte Vista Christian School. A natural ath- lete with a sincere and abiding love affair with the ocean, she grew up surfing at Monterey Bay beaches. "My dad first put me on a board at Privates Beach near Pleasure Point when I was I was really young, maybe 4 or 5," Miller recalls. "My parents met while surfing there." As with many California surfing families, Miller's life cen- tered on the Pacific. "All our activities revolved around the ocean," she says. "It was a healthy way to grow up. It toughened me up both spir- itually and physically." Through her spectacularly successful career modeling for Victoria's Secret, GQ, Maxim, Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair, she jetted to some of the most exotic and desirable loca- tions on Earth—she counts Fiji, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Florence and Paris among her favorites—she secretly couldn't wait to get home. "I worked my butt off to get back to where I started," she laughs. Miller was a mere 16 when she began modeling, and naturally, she had to be where the work was…and that meant Los Angeles. "Santa Cruz was not my life for a long time," she recalls. "Living in Southern California was a sacrifice, even though I was only home maybe three days a week. I wanted to save my money and move back here." That's exactly what she did. While pregnant with her first child, Miller and her husband, music producer Griffin Guess, pulled up their Los Angeles stakes and moved to Santa Cruz. "My family was here and I wanted to have all my family together," she says. "You want your kids to know their grandparents." Also a lifelong surfer, La Jolla native Guess has adapted well. Hers is a notoriously fickle industry, relying on a steady stream of new, young faces, but Miller has lasted much longer than the average. 104 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 5 Santa Cruz native Marisa Miller was born to the beach: "I feel my absolute best — physically, mentally and spiritually— when I'm surfing every day."