Playmate Kerissa Fare doesn’t kid around. All natural, with flossy blonde hair and blue eyes, she grew up poor in Riverside, California, and didn’t always have such grace and confidence in front of the camera. “I used to run from it,” she says. “I had low self-esteem. But I wouldn’t change anything about my childhood – I know how to take care of myself.” On her own from the young age of seventeen, Kerissa wasn’t afraid to take risks – with a fake ID, she got herself into a local pool hall, and even went to Vegas to play a tournament. “It was really rad,” she admits. “If I weren’t a Playmate, I’d be a professional pool shark!” Speaking of which, Kerissa credits her role model, Marilyn Monroe, with her decision to become our Miss September 2000. “Marilyn was sweet and innocent, and yet she wasn’t,” she explains. “That’s how I feel.” With a blossoming modeling career, Kerissa is ready to find herself a man, and she’d prefer him to have a good, old-fashioned sense of fun. “I like a guy with a quick wit who I can have fun with,” she says. “My turn-ons are humor, spontaneity and a versatile mind. I want to live in the moment!” As far as the present moment goes, we think Kerissa Fare has got it on lockdown.