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More Than a Pretty Face
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| When not wearing her crown and sash, Miss Traffic (see bus ad, lower left), aka Gricel Ferreyra, works in PR for the MTA. Photo by Gary Leonard. |
Miss Traffic, Star of Metro's Beauty Pageant Spoof, Speaks
by Anna Scott
By day, Gricel Ferreyra works as a communications manager for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Marketing Department. But the 32-year-old Burbank resident and mother of three also moonlights as someone much more recognizable: Miss Traffic, the grinning, slightly mocking, sash-and tiara-clad woman who for the past several months has graced Metro buses, bus shelters and billboards. Part of an advertising campaign to promote public transit, the posters invite drivers to literally "miss" traffic.
Along with being the face of road congestion in L.A., Miss Traffic also recently inspired more than 75 Metro riders to compete in a contest to crown the real-life Miss Traffic. A commuter was selected earlier this month to carry on the title. Here, Ferreyra talks with Los Angeles Downtown News about her reluctant rise to become the queen of gridlock.
Los Angeles Downtown News: How did you become Miss Traffic?
Gricel Ferreyra: I'm the public relations manager for the "Go Metro" campaign, which is our ongoing ridership campaign. I decided to do it due to the persuasion of our creative director, Michael Lejeune. He thought I should do it because of my outgoing personality. But I was pretty shy about it at first. I didn't want to do it, because I like being behind the scenes. With the whole concept behind it, though, I thought, if I'm going to do one, this would be a good one. It will be fun to tell my kids about when I'm old and gray.
Q: Does Metro always use employees as models?
A: We use our Metro employees for 99% of our ads because we're funded by tax dollars. We don't think it would be right to be spending money on models and casting them. And we have such great casting here already. We have 9,000 employees and every time we're doing a campaign we send out an email blast. People send photos of themselves, their family and their friends, and everyone understands that it's on a volunteer basis.
Q: Where were you the first time you saw yourself on the side of a bus, and what did you think?
A: Our building is at the end of Union Station. I was going to lunch, heading to the subway, and one of the buses pulled into the plaza here. I thought, "Oh my gosh, how embarrassing."
I didn't tell anybody I knew about it. I didn't think people would recognize me, but little by little my friends would call me and say, "Is that you?" I got about 30 phone calls. A lot of co-workers recognized me, but not random people on the street.
Q: Do you get teased at work?
A: All the time. I always get requests to come to work wearing the whole outfit, the crown and the sash. My friends love it. Every time I come over, they're like, "Miss Traffic is here for a barbecue at our house!" They seem to be enjoying it more than I do.
Q: How old are your kids, and what do they think about Miss Traffic?
A: They are 9, 6 and 1 - boy, girl, boy. My [older] son and daughter are proud of me. There's a bus shelter in Burbank close to their school, and one day I drove them there and said, "Who's that?" After that they noticed me everywhere. Their teachers know about it too and they all have fun with it. When I come in for special events, to help out with school, they're like, "Oh, it's our famous mother."
Q: Have you worn the Miss Traffic outfit since the photo shoot?
A: I dressed up on one other occasion. For our 2008 Metro calendars, Miss Traffic was on the cover. We printed out extras, and I dressed up and went to one of our customer centers, two Red Line stations, one Gold Line station and two Metro rapid buses and I distributed them to our customers. For most of the people, it was like I made their day. They were excited, they were laughing. One little girl thought I was the girl from Enchanted.
Q: Do you have any more scheduled appearances as Miss Traffic?
A: Not at this time, but I'm open for requests.
Q: How much time does Miss Traffic spend in traffic each day?
A: I take Metrolink to work or the subway from the North Hollywood Station. If everyone were to go Metro, it would help solve our traffic problems.
Contact Anna Scott at anna@downtownnews.com.
page 8, 5/5/2008
© Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
Along with being the face of road congestion in L.A., Miss Traffic also recently inspired more than 75 Metro riders to compete in a contest to crown the real-life Miss Traffic. A commuter was selected earlier this month to carry on the title. Here, Ferreyra talks with Los Angeles Downtown News about her reluctant rise to become the queen of gridlock.
Los Angeles Downtown News: How did you become Miss Traffic?
Gricel Ferreyra: I'm the public relations manager for the "Go Metro" campaign, which is our ongoing ridership campaign. I decided to do it due to the persuasion of our creative director, Michael Lejeune. He thought I should do it because of my outgoing personality. But I was pretty shy about it at first. I didn't want to do it, because I like being behind the scenes. With the whole concept behind it, though, I thought, if I'm going to do one, this would be a good one. It will be fun to tell my kids about when I'm old and gray.
Q: Does Metro always use employees as models?
A: We use our Metro employees for 99% of our ads because we're funded by tax dollars. We don't think it would be right to be spending money on models and casting them. And we have such great casting here already. We have 9,000 employees and every time we're doing a campaign we send out an email blast. People send photos of themselves, their family and their friends, and everyone understands that it's on a volunteer basis.
Q: Where were you the first time you saw yourself on the side of a bus, and what did you think?
A: Our building is at the end of Union Station. I was going to lunch, heading to the subway, and one of the buses pulled into the plaza here. I thought, "Oh my gosh, how embarrassing."
I didn't tell anybody I knew about it. I didn't think people would recognize me, but little by little my friends would call me and say, "Is that you?" I got about 30 phone calls. A lot of co-workers recognized me, but not random people on the street.
Q: Do you get teased at work?
A: All the time. I always get requests to come to work wearing the whole outfit, the crown and the sash. My friends love it. Every time I come over, they're like, "Miss Traffic is here for a barbecue at our house!" They seem to be enjoying it more than I do.
Q: How old are your kids, and what do they think about Miss Traffic?
A: They are 9, 6 and 1 - boy, girl, boy. My [older] son and daughter are proud of me. There's a bus shelter in Burbank close to their school, and one day I drove them there and said, "Who's that?" After that they noticed me everywhere. Their teachers know about it too and they all have fun with it. When I come in for special events, to help out with school, they're like, "Oh, it's our famous mother."
Q: Have you worn the Miss Traffic outfit since the photo shoot?
A: I dressed up on one other occasion. For our 2008 Metro calendars, Miss Traffic was on the cover. We printed out extras, and I dressed up and went to one of our customer centers, two Red Line stations, one Gold Line station and two Metro rapid buses and I distributed them to our customers. For most of the people, it was like I made their day. They were excited, they were laughing. One little girl thought I was the girl from Enchanted.
Q: Do you have any more scheduled appearances as Miss Traffic?
A: Not at this time, but I'm open for requests.
Q: How much time does Miss Traffic spend in traffic each day?
A: I take Metrolink to work or the subway from the North Hollywood Station. If everyone were to go Metro, it would help solve our traffic problems.
Contact Anna Scott at anna@downtownnews.com.
page 8, 5/5/2008
© Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
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