Her Playboy plans are shaping up

She is proving her bullies wrong, one photo shoot at a time.

Aspiring Playboy Playmate and former Chapman student Ashley Alexiss (born Ashley Alexis Smith) used to be the subject of ridicule in middle school, but two weeks ago, she won the February title for Playboy's Miss Social.

The 20-year-old has been modeling full time since 2009 after deciding she wanted to become a model and actress. Since then, she's been on a virtual warpath to make it into Playboy's pages.

"No one can tell me what I can't do," she said.

Alexiss received 2.2 million votes to win Playboy's Miss Social contest, an interactive online competition among thousands of women who network and promote themselves across the nation, primarily via Facebook and radio interviews.

The goal of the contest, which began last September, is to give more women a chance to be featured in Playboy's pages, according to the Miss Social website. Participants have one month to get 300,000 votes in order to become a finalist, where they move onto a final 24-hour voting round where the winner is chosen.

The key to her success was a whirlwind of radio interviews and meet and greets with other contestants as well as maintaining her Facebook page and website, she said.

"I tried to put myself everywhere I could," she said.

To Alexiss, making it into the centerfold of Playboy means not only popularity but also a declaration of confidence to the world.

"It's your way to say, ‘I love who I am no matter what,'" she said.

Coming from a childhood filled with bullying, Alexiss hopes to encourage children to follow their own dreams.

"I know how many kids turn away from what they want to do because someone tells them they can't," she said. "As long as you know who you are, it doesn't matter what anyone else says."

Alexiss, who is 5-feet, 4-inches tall, according to ModelMayhem.com, said she has to take the rejection she gets in the modeling industry as part of her job.

"It gets frustrating, but you can't change your height or your look."

Those who know her describe Alexiss as a bubbly and hardworking social butterfly, so it comes with little surprise to them that she won the title.

"The center of attention is where I would put Ashley," said Lance Lockwood, professor of communication studies.

In addition to the title, Alexiss will be flown from Boston, where she lives, to Los Angeles to stay at the Playboy mansion, where she will be photographed for a non-nude pictorial spread in next month's magazine. She will also meet the owner of the magazine and infamous ladies' man Hugh Hefner and be in a Playmate test photo shoot.

Alexiss has been working toward becoming a Playmate since she was 18 but doesn't plan to stop there.

"Once I hit Playmate, I want to be Playmate of the Year, and then I want to get into acting," she said. "I'm never going to have an ultimate goal because there's always somewhere to go."

Although she wants to make it in the modeling world, education is still important to Alexiss. After her grandfather's death in 2010 during her sophomore year as a communications major at Chapman, Alexiss moved home to Boston to be close to family. Now, she attends a community college and plans to attend a university in Boston next fall.

"I'm going to finish school no matter what," she said. "It's something that'll help me when I'm old and wrinkly and can't model anymore."

But both school and modeling can sometimes be hectic to balance, she said.

"When I'm not working on school, I'm shooting, and when I'm not shooting, I'm working on school," she said.

While still at Chapman, Alexiss joined Kappa Alpha Theta but was terminated from the sorority because of modeling photos she posted on Facebook, Alexiss said.

"They didn't approve of what I was trying to do Playboy-wise and didn't want me to represent them," she said. Members of the sorority declined to comment on her dismissal.

But Alexiss said she hasn't let negative comments affect her and has plenty of friends, family and total strangers supporting her modeling efforts.

Elizabeth Salzberg, a senior communications studies major and friend of Alexiss, said she doesn't doubt Alexiss' ability to succeed in her modeling career.

"She's a go-getter," she said. "Whatever she puts her mind, to she'll go out and get."

Alexiss' mother, Velvet Smith, has been her biggest motivation in everything she's done in her modeling career.

"It's my way to give back to her to make [supporting her] my career," she said. "I'm going to back her up no matter what."

Megan Seidner, a sophomore communications major and friend, said Alexiss' goofy and outgoing personality aided the win.

"Basically everywhere we go, she makes a new friend," Seidner said.