If you can find eight cooler, classier guys and gals than our 2013 eligibles, well, you should date them. But we don’t think you will. Here’s a little more information on these smart, sexy, and available Twin Citians.
Christiana Clark
At 31, she has an Ivey Award for best emerging actress on her shelf and performed in intriguing shows in Chicago and Dallas before returning to play Oya in the galvanizing Pillsbury House show In the Red and Brown Water, in 2011. Pillsbury launched her career, back in 2001, when she returned home from the American Academy of the Arts in Los Angeles and settled in.
Ben D’Amico
Ben grew up in a family of cooks (obviously) and he’s taken up the family business with gusto, managing D’Amico’s Campiello restaurant in Eden Prairie. That fish stew he makes at home, cioppino? It’s usually made with clams, shrimp, mussels, the catch of the day, fresh tomatoes in a wine sauce, and is served with toasted bread. Unless you’re allergic to shellfish, you can hardly do better than that for a second or third date.
Laura Schara
You won’t find many people who combine fashion and fishing for a living, but that’s the beauty—and we mean beauty—of Laura Schara. She was a Macy’s trend correspondent for years and has produced its annual Glamorama fashion shows. But it’s her love of fishing and hunting, learned from the best—her father, outdoors-TV host Ron Schara—that makes her such a, well, catch. Want a girl who can go from the woods to an evening gown in the same day? That’s Laura.
Here she is, talking about her outdoors heritage as a new host of the North American Fisherman channel:
Tony Sanneh
Yes, Tony knew David Beckham. No, they never hit the town with the Spice Girls. Though Tony, who has quite a charming sense of humor, might joke about something like that. These days, at 41, he’s retired from soccer and busy running his namesake Sanneh Foundation, back in his hometown, using the universal appeal of soccer to empower urban youth here and around the world.
Here, he talks about playing in the World Cup and what motivates him to help others achieve their goals:
Sven Sundgaard
The KARE-11 meteorologist generally needs no introduction in the Twin Cities. He’s regularly seen running and participating in charity events—that is, when he’s not vacationing on a tropical beach. It’s brainy work, being a meteorologist, but Sundgaard combines it with the kind of looks that landed him on the Mother Nature Network’s list of the hottest forecasters in the country.
Here he is on one of his more exotic trips, at the Dead Sea in Israel:
Herschel
The mono-monikered singer-songwriter and actor has some serious pipes and serious fans, like local R&B legend T. Mychael Rambo, who called him “absolutely amazing.” Herschel calls his sound “super-pop on steroids” but he’s not looking to be a pop star so much as a family man.
Here he is, looking and sounding smooth in the video for his hit single “Out of My System.”
Robb Whittlef
This guy knows how to nest. He’s feathered quite a few as an interior designer with Historic Studios and has a particular gift for making home accessories out of everybody objects, like wine bottles. Sales at the studio draw hundreds of people to wait in lines for things like a vintage Louis Vuitton trunk. He’s got good taste.
Liz Bastian
Liz has energy and style to burn, not to mention a sharp wit. She’s a florist, which is cool, and has a Pinterest page you could design an entire magazine around. She also happens to host the best Halloween party you’re likely to find, so get your martian-zombie-barista costume ready.
