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Style For The Camera Photo op, gotta love liquidating

By Victoria Neal

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Try to imagine a job where you in-line skate with famous hockeyplayers, shoot hoops with Kobe Bryant, and then make sure they lookjust right for an advertising shoot. Thirty-one-year-old CindyWhitehead does just that--and gets paid, too (seriously). Nowattempt to contain your extreme jealousy.

A sports enthusiast since childhood (she was a champion vertskateboarder in her teens), Whitehead attained the confidence andingenuity to meld her love of extreme sports with her career as theworld's leading sports stylist. Snowboarding, skiing or surfingher way to shoots, Whitehead contributes her styling and researchskills to help develop accurate and intriguing sports images formajor clients such as Nike, Adidas and Gatorade.

While working as a fashion stylist and location scout forSwimwear Illustrated after dropping out of UCLA's filmdepartment, Whitehead met a well-known sports photographer andoffered to help style the models and athletes for his shoots."I started realizing `This is what I want todo,' " she recalls. "The sports business wasreally booming, so I just started sending out promo cards and builtup my clientele from there."