Autostraddle Calendar Girls 2012: Gimme Sugar’s Charlene is Miss December!

Celebrity, wedding and fashion photographer Robin Roemer and Stylist Sara Medd wanted to tell a story this year — a story of guarded identities, sexual intrigue, and Hollywood glamour in a secret girls-only world in the sky. All year you’ve heard about the real lives of the Calendar Girl Models. Now it’s time to meet the characters they play in this one-of-a-kind full-color photography book that just-so-happens to also be a calendar.

With so many people using online or mobile calendars these days, we wanted to make something that would be more than just a way to mark the days; something that lasted well past the heat death of the universe. It needed to be as fancy and stylish as the narrative it contains while remaining affordable.

It wasn’t easy to pull off, but nothing this good ever is, right?

It’s December which means many of you already have your Autostraddle Calendars via Alex the Christmas Elf’s Magic Postal Factory and have already seen Miss December in all her glory. Many of you do not, and therefore probably aren’t quite as happy as Carly is in this photograph:

So let’s get you up to speed …

Our December lady is Charlene Borja:


You might recognize Charlene from “Gimme Sugar” – a lesbian reality show that was once on LOGO back in 2009. But that was then and this is now. NOW Charlene is living the high life in London as the Casting Billboard Supervisor at Casting Networks, UK, which has offices all over the USA. That’s counter-intuitive. Anyway, they are the leading online service for booking commercial and theatrical roles. In fact, 97% of all commercials in Los Angeles (that’s where Hollywood is!) are cast through them. That’s a lot of percents.

What does she do when she’s not working? Well, she paints and plays the drums, trumpet AND viola among other things. You already know she throws a good party, but did you know she’s a hopeless romantic with a thing for cowboy boots? Now you do. She’s a Leo. Rwar! Also she’s a gold-star. If you like her as much as I think you do, you should know that she wants a black pug for Christmas.

photographer robin roemer with calendar

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This is where we’d give you a video if we had one, but we don’t. We’re really sorry. The video editor who conceptualized the Calendar Girl Behind-the-Scenes Video Situation unfortunately has had a lot of things come up and wasn’t able to finish out the year. BUT weren’t these other videos so wonderful? They were! You should just watch them again!

+Kelli & Ashley are January/February
+Luna & Michelle are March
+Julie/Brandy and Stacee are April and May
+The Real L Word‘s Francine is June
+ Kali from Cali is July
+Maya & Brandi frolicked in the pool together for August
+Lily & Jessica were a double September/October month video!
+and Steffanie and Courtney were the beautiful girls we had for September

Another option is to watch “Gay in LA” (again), the fantastic debut single from WorkItLA.com which features cameos by Charlene as well as Miss June, Francine!

+

Also, now that we’ve got your attention, we wanna share some of the fun press the Autostraddle Calendar has gotten lately.

via curve magazine

+ Autostraddle is featured as a great holiday gift in the December 2012 issue of Curve Magazine (with Jane Lynch on the cover). But what you’ll really really wanna read is the awesome interview they did with Robin Roemer.

+ Our friends in Ireland, Gaelick, featured the Autostraddle Calendar and conducted an Autostraddle Calendar Giveaway!

“A is for Austostraddle – specifically their fabulous 2012 calendar featuring oodles of gorgeous North American leslies. If you thought the All-Ireland Champions’ calendar was a good ‘un, well hold on to your hats: This one is produced, photographed, make-upped, hair-did and modelled by and for lady-lovin’ ladies.”


Get the 2012 Autostraddle Calendar here at our store for $18.

Your purchase helps Autostraddle and it helps cover the costs of shooting the calendar

Special Note: As of December 2010, we request that the comments on Calendar Girls posts, unlike every other post on this site, be exclusively positive. These posts exist to celebrate women, so any shit-talking will get deleted. Direct concerns about the project or website as a whole can be directed to robin at autostraddle dot com or riese at autostraddle dot com!

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Robin

Robin specializes in entertainment, lifestyle and portrait photography. She's also a Creative Producer, Director of Photography and co-owner of Scheme Machine Studios LLC, her production company based in Los Angeles. Robin loves shooting for TV and film and has worked with media companies like Legendary Pictures and Viacom. She shot and directed the Pride campaign for Google called #ThisIsFamily. Robin has had the pleasure of working on national campaigns for companies like Dove and Levis, and had the unique opportunity to shoot for non-profits and initiatives such as The Black List, Save the Children, Move to End Violence, Have a Hart Day, and The Clinton Global Initiative. She is most proud of the work she has done with organizations such as The Ad Council and RAINN working on national impact campaigns. Her celebrity roster includes Cyndi Lauper, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, The B-52s, Keri Hilson, JB Smoove, Tegan and Sara, Margaret Cho, The B-52’s, Andreja Pejic, and many more. She was there for Autostraddle’s birth and proudly served as A-Camp co-director for many years.

Robin has written 82 articles for us.

24 Comments

  1. The lack of video for this month may prompt me to watch LOGO’s Gimme Sugar. I presume it’s better quality than The Real L Word. God I hope so.

  2. Awwwwwwww Thank you guys! Was just about to go to bed when I saw your latest tweet! Holy shit! It’s up! Yikes! Exciting and scary! hahaha. It was such a PLEASURE to be a part of the new calendar. All of you ladies are beyond AMAZING! And to my fellow Calendar girls, you all are beautiful and celebrated women. I am honored to know you. I hope you guys enjoy my calendar shot (THANKS TO THE AMAZING ROBIN ROEMER!) and all the beautiful women that are a part of it. AUTOSTRADDLE KICKS MAJOR ASS! Loads of love for u <3

  3. I just love that AS is called the “leading independently owned lesbian website in the world” and yet it still feels like the most loving and accepting family imaginable. You ladies are doing such a fantastic job.

  4. While looking at this on my phone I zoomed in to see what her ring said…and got called out on looking at boobs on my phone haha

  5. Congrats on the very sexiful calendar Team AS, and for being all around awesome! You have very loving, passionate readers from all different walks of life, different genders, different orientations. This website is one of the things that has prompted me to pursue a career in cultural criticism (after taking time off to work for two years after university, unsure of what I wanted to do, I’ve decided to apply for masters next fall!). I want to be a role model to girls, to let them know that it’s sexy to read, to be smart and well-informed, that fitting in is boring, and that if they’d rather attend a comic book convention than drool over the latest Tiger Beat-approved heartthrob, then they should embrace that, and not be ashamed. May 2012 bring you many more devoted fans, and much happiness and success!

  6. Personally, I wish Ms. Borja was smiling…but, she is very beautiful in both body and mind, and I can dream of her smiling…or playing the trumpet solo from “Stardust”…

    …and, if she smiled at me, I would probably stop breathing ;)

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