What a remarkable person Cat Cora is. I think I first saw her on some television cooking show where she was introduced as a celebrity chef. I was taken with her poise and humor in front of the camera and the glamorous allure of her look. She speaks confidently, clearly and elegantly with just a slight twang of a Southern accent that makes her even more charming in my book.

And who doesn't find a person beautiful who can create beautiful food? I am certainly fascinated and have great respect for those who can transform simple ingredients into a culinary creation that looks as good as it tastes. That's a beauty equation in and of itself! When I watched Cat do a cooking demo she really seemed to have a grasp on the essence of what makes a dish special, the food that's in it. She wasn't making things too fancy, no molecular gastronomy or foam. Instead she appreciated the flavor and texture of the food and combined things in a way that didn't disguise or reinvent the integrity of the ingredients. It actually reminded me a lot of Nigel's Beauty Equation and finding beauty not by changing things but by embracing things.

Then I wanted to know more about the blonde, brown-eyed celebrity chef. Hello Google!

Cat made television history when she was the first female to win the American Iron Chef competition. She is openly gay and has four children with her wife. And as a Model Citizen she founded Chefs for Humanity, "a grassroots coalition of chefs and culinary professionals guided by a mission to quickly be able to raise funds and provide resources for important emergency and humanitarian aid, nutritional education, and hunger-related initiatives throughout the world."

The money raised by Chefs for Humanity so far has benefited UNICEF, Hurricane Katrina victims and other anti-hunger initiatives worldwide. Now Cat has teamed with Nigel to further his fabulous work with the Humane Society to protect the horrendous slaughter of seals in Canada with Chefs for Seals, which brings out celebs and chefs to promote the growing boycott of Canadian seafood.

Cat Cora is a perfect example of the Beauty Equation. All the elements of her inner beauty add up to a perfectly delicious main course. And now the cat's out of the bag!

In Nigel Barker’s Beauty Equation, beauty is the sum of allure, confidence, compassion, spontaneity, radiance, health, honesty, charm, and energy all divided by the very important element of HUMOR!

Some would say that beauty is a very serious business. I concur with Nigel that true beauty always has a sense of humor and possesses the ability to laugh at itself. This is the only way to bring together all the other factors that make up someone’s beauty into one harmonious union. My proof for this theory? My long time pal, model and actress Jenny Shimizu.

When I first met Jenny twenty years ago we were working as waiters at a trendy little restaurant on Melrose Avenue. I always looked forward to working with her because we had such a good time. She would continually crack me up with her off-the-cuff wit and take me off guard with her fearless ability to turn any situation into a positive experience that always ended with a good laugh. One night the notoriously mean-spirited owner of the eatery surprised us with the news that the place was closing down. It was our last shift and there was still time on the clock so she demanded we clean the place spotless. I was devastated, as I hadn’t planned on being unemployed that night. Luckily, I was working with Jenny who quickly brightened my mood but taking the whole situation with more than a grain of salt. She reminded me it wasn’t the end of the world and that there were plenty of other restaurants to work at. When I started to spend my last hour on that clock cleaning the filthy bus area, Jenny cracked open a couple of beers, jettisoned her uniform and said, “Screw this, let’s go out dancing!”

Needless to say, she was right. I was so glad she helped me turn the hopeless situation around in my head and just enjoy the moment instead of borrowing trouble from tomorrow.

We both seized the moment to get out of the F.B.I. (food and beverage industry) and pursue new job opportunities. A year later I was driving down Hollywood Boulevard when this totally bitchin’ yellow muscle car from the 70s in cherry condition pulled up next to me. It was Jenny! She said she was now an auto mechanic and fixing cars as she peeled out with a laugh.

Maybe a year later, my car needed fixing. I called Jenny but she wasn’t there. Her roommate told me she had gone to New York. I thought that was peculiar because an auto mechanic would be crazy to leave the car culture of Los Angeles, but hey, they have cars in New York City too. Only she hadn’t gone to New York to be a grease monkey. I picked up a magazine and there she was in the famous Calvin Kline CK1 ad. She’d become a top model instead!

A lot has happened to both of us since we’ve met but we are still friends, I’ve been lucky enough to direct her in a couple of films (comedies, of course), and she still cracks me up. Last season she was a judge on Bravo’s “Make Me A Supermodel” and was making everyone laugh with modeling tips like channeling “soft bunnies” or her legendary “I am Linda Evangelista” story.

Jenny is living proof that humor is the common denominator in life. And that beauty is fun!

“Beauty is not about the separate pieces of a woman’s body.  It is about her inner beauty, her strength and spirit.”

My long time friend Devon Williams embodies every element of the Beauty Equation. I first met her in high school. I was drawn to her magnetic personality, charm, humor and style. I also would marvel at her talent when she would dance, sing and act on our high school theater stage.

I had lost touch with her when we went our seperate ways to college but as fate would have it we reconnected in Hollywood years later. I was thrilled to watch her on TV as she broke into the mainstream with her acting career. She married a great guy and went on to do a variety of other things including teaching and writing. She had two lovely girls. And she developed stage two breast cancer.

Devon’s spirit is so bright and powerful and her Beauty Equation always adds up so the cancer didn’t stand a chance. Like one in eight women, she gave her breast to cancer but she didn’t let it diminish her beauty. In fact, the opposite occurred.

Devon had the vision to use the power of photography to celebrate herself and other breast cancer survivors in a very unique and special way: The One In Eight Project to benefit the Constance G. Zahorik Breast Center at Huntington Hospital.

ONE in eight is an exhibition in the making, a conversation, and a change in the way we think about breast cancer.

The exhibition will feature eight visionary women photographers, each of whom will contribute eight portraits to the project.  These sixty-four images will represent a cross-section of faces and experiences.

The subjects of this exhibition are being photographed tastefully and artfully.  Provocative and beautiful, playful and personal, these alluring portraits will be set against a simple quote, phrase or text offered by the survivor to express the depth of their experience with cancer and their celebration of life after cancer – in fact, to show the scars.  The result will be touching, elegant and very intimate.

The power of this project is in the extraordinary ordinary women who have already inspired their friends and family with their bravery.   Having endured strenuous cancer treatment, these women were then confronted by issues of identity, self-worth, femininity and sexuality.

Website: http://www.oneineightphotos.com/

Today, Devon is more radiant than ever. Her role as a Model Citizen has multiplied her Beauty Equation exponentially and she continues to share her compassion, love and joy with the world. I am certainly grateful to have her in my life.