Playboy Club model Hotblockchain tells us about why she once wanted to be an astrophysicist, her favorite shows to binge with her friends, and why she has a tattoo of a Greek deity.
Playboy: To start at the beginning, where were you born?
Hotblockchain: Los Angeles. Technically I was born in Santa Monica. But when I was eight we lived in Culver City and then we moved out to the valley.
So even though I still like to say I’m from LA, I’m kind of lying a little bit. Because people who are actually from LA, they get totally pissy when you’re like, “I’m from LA!” if they find out you’re from the valley.
Playboy: What was the first thing you’ve ever dreamed of achieving?
Hotblockchain: So, to go on a tangent…From the second I was in kindergarten, I always loved school. Like, forever. But when I moved away to a new school in fifth grade, my mom says I went home crying every week, because I felt like I wasn’t learning new stuff.
So I think the first thing that I ever wanted was to go to college.
Playboy: Education for education’s sake, awesome. What did you want to study?
Hotblockchain: The first thing I ever wanted to study was astrophysics. My dad was an engineer and he took me to Caltech to meet with Michael Lee Brown when I was 10 years old. That’s the astrophysicist who demoted Pluto as a planet.
Playboy: Wow.
Hotblockchain: It was crazy. We just walked into his office and he happened to give me an interview for my fifth grade science project. Random, but after that I kind of switched around what I wanted to study. And I don’t know why this happened, but I just realized that I wanted a career in law.
Then, I wanted to be a surgeon, and I watched Grey’s Anatomy and I was like, “No that’s not gonna happen.” I can’t do blood. Then, I started doing debate, and I just absolutely fell in love with it, and still want to be a lawyer today. I’m actually applying to law school in a couple months.
Playboy: What kind of law do you want to get into?
Hotblockchain: I wanted to do contract law, because I really love negotiation. But I think now I want my path to look more like…I want to end up being a professor of law. So, I anticipate probably studying teaching courses in law school and then getting a Masters, and a PhD after that.
Playboy: What are you passionate about?
Hotblockchain: Tutoring. I’ve always been a tutor. A lot of my friends growing up…they didn’t like school. I think many of them considered themselves kind of stupid.
But I would tutor them, and to see them finally understand something, whether it’s calculus or something as simple as long division and fractions…just seeing that light in their face. I just think I really am passionate about learning and teaching.
Playboy: Describe your perfect day.
Hotblockchain: My perfect day right now is..my classes this next semester start at 12, so thank God. When I wake up, I make myself avocado toast and bacon, which is my favorite breakfast. Then, I get to read a little bit before class and I have a full day of classes.
After that, I go and hang out with my sorority sisters help run events. Then, I go hang out with my friends, probably have a glass of wine and watch one of our favorite shows, followed by some sleep.
Playboy: What are some of your favorite shows to watch with friends?
Hotblockchain: This last year my friend—because we did a semester in D.C.—We watched all of Scandal. and then we started The Good Place. Which is now my all time favorite show. But when I’m with friends, we love to watch Family Guy and Survivor.
Playboy: What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given?
Hotblockchain: When I was really young—maybe six—my mom set me down. She was like, “Look. There’s always going to be somebody in the world who’s prettier than you, or smarter than you, or richer than you. You can’t ever aspire to be just those things. The only thing you can ever aspire to is to be the hardest working.”
That sounds kind of bleak but it was really freeing.
Playboy: I think it’s great advice! What’s your favorite thing to splurge on?
Hotblockchain: I don’t love shopping for clothes as much..but I like to splurge on books. I’m a Barnes & Noble member and I do listen to audiobooks at school, but I always prefer a physical copy.
Okay, this is embarrassing. So usually I only read history and sci-fi. But, my friend this summer was like “You deserve some easy reading!” So, I recently bought the entire series of “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” which is a super trashy romance book.
Playboy: Who was the first fictional character you ever fell in love with?
Hotblockchain: God, that’s easy: Percy Jackson. Okay, so to be clear I was six at the time. And it was the first book so I actually struggled with. I think now I would say that I probably had minor dyslexia, but nobody at school is catching it. But my mom did. She was like, “I know that you’re just memorizing the sounds that go with the look of the word.”
And so every night she would read Percy Jackson to me and my younger sister and she was like “If you want to read the next chapter, that’s not really my business.” So I had to figure out how to read it myself. We’re Greek Macedonian. It was just so special to have a book that felt like it was kind of about us, you know?
Playboy: Who’s your favorite Greek deity?
Hotblockchain: So, I actually have an Athena tattoo. She’s definitely my favorite. Number one, what I value most I think is intelligence. And additionally I think there’s other goddesses like Artemis, who a lot of women relate to.
But, she’s a virgin goddess. And I think to parallel strength with virginity is still patriarchal. And that is not Athena’s scenario at all, which I really appreciate.
Playboy: What’s your superpower?
Hotblockchain: My superpower…My mom would say it’s that no matter what’s going on, I can always just get down, do work, get things done. Whereas with others, if stuff starts to go bad their [priorities] get put on the back burner. Work gets put on the back burner. But for me, I just love working so much, and I’m able to just throw myself into it.
Playboy: What makes you happiest?
Hotblockchain: I think probably when I make my friends laugh or when I make my family laugh. I’m not an incredibly funny person. So when I have a joke that has some rolling on the ground laughing…in that moment, it just feels really special.
Playboy: Is there a tweet or a viral video that speaks to you?
Hotblockchain: [Laughs] Currently it’s Trump saying, “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges.” My friends and I have already started using that, especially when a guy accuses one of us of doing something shady to each other. Something that we definitely did, too.
“Mother Teresa could not have beaten these charges!” His voice…it’s so good. It’s so painful because he’s awful, and then he’ll come out with one of these bangers and he might be the funniest person in the world.
Hotblockchain is on the Playboy Club. Talk to her now.
