Annmarie Nitti: Model, DJ and Full-Time College Student

It all started by accident. Annmarie Nitti was at her brother RJ's sixth grade graduation. She had just finished eighth grade. 

A woman who was a model saw Annmarie and said she should model too. 

Annmarie wanted to finish school first. "I'm a secretive bookworm. I wanted to get a college degree...I thought I wanted to be a history major originally."

She ended up waiting until she graduated from Hills East before she started doing any modeling, but she's doing it part-time, while she's a full-time student at NYU. 

"I waited till I was 18 to start. And now I meet girls who have been modeling since they were 12, 13, and they have all this experience, but I loved Hills East and all my memories. And I wouldn't change a thing."

"I work every week but I can't travel yet, until I graduate," Annmarie added. She just turned 21 this past weekend.

"I run from shoots to class sometimes, so I get there with my hair and makeup done. It's so hard to balance both. I stay up till 3 a.m. doing homework. But I want a good GPA. It's important for me to do well in school," she said.

Her mom, Pat Nitti feels Annmarie can do it. "She's type A-- a hard worker. She knows what she wants and can handle it all."

When Annmarie first got to NYU, she said that she started bartending and catering but wanted to do something a little bit more engaging, so when she was approached to be a part of a company called STADJ deejays in May of last year, she was extremely interested.

"I love music and thought it would be a fun experience and a great way to make money on the side to help get me through college. So I signed on with the company and started taking DJ classes at the founder's home in Brooklyn. It has been a great experience. I just recently deejayed a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in front of over 20,000 people, which was pretty wild!" 

Annmarie said she doesn't take the modeling so seriously. "It's a one in a million chance to become a supermodel. I have no expectations of that. Modeling can be an opportunity to travel the world, if you're lucky enough to be successful. I just love that I get to meet different people every day, people from all over the world. It's very interesting."

She is majoring in media and communications at NYU and hopes to work in fashion if the modeling doesn't pan out. But it keeps her very busy and she's had some success already, even though she said she's just getting her feet wet. She did a Macy's commercial and she's been on the cover of magazines. 

Annmarie became inspired to model by her mother, who was a runway model. 

"My mom has a photo of her on the runway, holding me in her arms when I was a baby," she said. "And we did a runway show together when I was 5. They dressed me the same as her. I really loved it."

 Pat Nitti also fell into modeling by accident. She was in college and was walking on the streets of New York City with her friend; they were looking for a summer job. 

"A guy passed me on the street and asked me if I was a model," Nitti said. "And I lied and said yes. So he said, come with me. And that's how it started." She was a runway model until after she had her four children. 

"But models are needed at every age," Annmarie said. "She should model again. She's still beautiful."

Modeling isn't the only gene that runs through the Nitti family. Everyone in the Nitti clan is also an athlete. Mom Pat, who is now a personal trainer at Lucille Roberts, held the New York State indoor high school high jump record for 20 years. She went to Auburn on a track scholarship. 

Dad is a former NFL player; he was the captain of his football team at Yale and then went on to join the NY Jets  during the "Sack Exchange" era in the early '80s and played for a short time with the Giants as well, before injuries ended his career at the age of 26.

The oldest Nitti child, John Michael, is now 22 and a senior at Cornell, where he plays football. He was also the starting QB for Hills East as a sophomore.

Annmarie swam on the Hills East swim team and also played baseball and lacrosse.

The third Nitti, Cailyn, who is a freshman at Penn State, was on Hills East's varsity volleyball team as a sophomore. 

The youngest, was the starting quarterback for Hills East last fall as a sophomore.

A busy, talented family, to say the least.

And as Annmarie said, "For now I am keeping busy with the whole student, model, deejay balancing act. Who knows what the future will bring?"

Let's stay tuned.