Prior to her posing for "Playboy", Vuolo had been working two jobs as a cocktail waitress to pay for college when a friend and coworker suggested sending in photos to the magazine. Despite Vuolo's belief that she was not ""Playboy" material", Vuolo, whose only modeling experience at that point was posing for a local swimsuit calendar, eventually told her coworker that she could send in photos of her if she wanted. After "Playboy" contacted Vuolo in early 2001, she flew to Los Angeles without telling her parents. She was photographed at the magazine's Santa Monica studios while sharing a bedroom at the Playboy Mansion with Christi Shake, "Playboy"'s Miss May 2002 and one of Hugh Hefner's seven girlfriends at the time. After returning home and informing her mother of her recent activities, Hefner invited her back to the mansion for his 75th birthday party that April.