She loves fashion, but hates famine.
And Rosetta Ragusa us doing something about both.
The 16-year-old wrote an interview that is coming out in Seventeen magazine next month, and founded a student club that has raised $5,000 for Uganda relief.
Rosetta, a Crescenta Valley High School junior, interviewed pop singer Christina Aguilera for a Seventeen magazine article that will appear in the September edition of the teen fashion and entertainment magazine.
"It was a lot of fun. A lifetime experience," said Rosetta, who aspires to be editor of the magazine one day. "She's into the Marilyn Monroe look. It was exciting and it could be a big step in my career."
When Rosetta was a freshman, She learned about a band of religious zealots who are killing nonbelievers in Uganda during a social-studies class, and founded Save Uganda, an organization that has raised more than $5,000 for relief efforts in Uganda, Africa.
"The news and the media weren't focused on that," she said. "So I decided to do something about it."
She founded the club and used bake sales and restaurant sponsorships to raise money.
On her 16th birthday in February, instead of accepting gifts, she asked partygoers to donate cash to Save Uganda and raised $2,000 in one day, she said.
She is sponsoring a 4-year-old Ugandan boy named Joel by sending $25 to his family every month.
"I'd like to go visit him for my senior trip," she said.
And if she hadn't founded the Save Uganda club, she might not have had a chance to interview Aguilera, she said.
A teacher nominated Rosetta, an avid Seventeen reader, to be one of the magazine's nationwide "All-Stars," she said. Out of thousands of entries, she was 10th in the magazine's selection. Students were rated on a combination of leadership, commitment, charity and academic achievement, Rosetta said.
Teachers Barbara Hiller and Amber McLeod also nominated her for the school's Virtue Ward, because of Save Uganda, her involvement in other student clubs and volunteering to help teach students.
"She's a very giving person with a full heart of compassion," said McLeod, who taught Rosetta about the Uganda situation in her social studies class.
"We had a whole conversation on it. I told her just because you are young doesn't mean you can't do something about it."
The magazine, which prides itself on focusing on real teens who are doing good things, asked Rosetta is she would interview celebrities, when they were in the area, for publication in the magazine and on its web site, she said.
Editors asked her to learn some background about the famous singer — who is promoting her "Back To Basics" album which will be released Aug. 15 — and write up about 20 questions to ask. The editors kept the questions they liked most and videotaped the interview, Rosetta said.
She was not paid for the interview.
This summer Rosetta is volunteering to teach English Language learners in Hiller's class.
"She is unusually compassionate and sweet," said Hiller as she watched Rosetta help a group of six teenagers with their language development.
"She can tell what they need when she's working with them."
A video of Rosetta interviewing Aguilera is at www.seventeen.com.
