Biography - Summer Rayne Oakes

Who is Summer Rayne Oakes?

Summer Rayne Oakes is a fashion model, author, YouTuber, and environmental activist by profession, and American by nationality. Known as the world's first "eco-model", she is passionate about houseplants, and the environment, which she shares on her YouTube channel, blog, and social media.

Summer Rayne Oakes – Age, Parents, Siblings

Summer Rayne Oakes’ birth took place on June 3, 1984, in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, USA. She was born to parents who were high school graduates and were both gardeners.

Other details of Summer Rayne Oakes’ early life including that of her mother, father, siblings, childhood, ethnicity, and rest of the family are not shared with the public. 

Education, Ethnicity

For education, she attended Lakeland High School while still working at the Lackawanna County Conservation District biosolids program. Following graduation, she earned Udall Scholarship at Cornell University. There she studied natural resources, ecology, and entomology and graduated cum laude with degrees in Environmental Science and Entomology.

Passion to change

Oakes has always been passionate about the environment. While growing up she posted photographs of appliances and dead animals left alongside local roads in hopes to shame the owners to remove their litter. While a university student, she published two papers on sludge toxicity and contaminants. 

After Summer Rayne Oakes noticed how she reached the outcome of her work beyond a narrow audience of scientists, she sought attention from social media and advertising.

In 2003 she was involved with "The Organic Portraits Project" and later received a National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology fellowship for the project.

Summer Rayne Oakes – Boyfriend, Husband, Children

She is currently believed to be a single woman sans boyfriend, husband, and children. Moreover, not much is known when it comes to her past relationships and dating life.

Summer Rayne Oakes – Career

Model

While in her sophomore year at Cornell, Oakes started to model. She worked as a full-time model in 2004 in New York City. In 2006 she was given the name "eco-model" by Grist Magazine’s Earth Day issue. She is signed with Faith Kates of Next Model Management, who has accepted the fact that Summer Rayne Oakes only models clothes made from organic or recycled materials.

Since then she has worked with Vanity Fair, CNN, Fox News, Aveeno beauty products, and Pirelli Calendar and has appeared in environmental short film eXtinction (2011), A Beautiful Fix (2004), and Eco 4 the World (2006).

Writer, Others

In addition to being an environmental activist, Oakes is also an avid writer. She has worked as an acting editor and editor-at-large for the New Zealand fashion magazine Lucire and as an environmental reporter on the Planet Green network.

Her first book Style, Naturally: The Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty was published on December 24, 2008. Since beginning her SugarDetoxMe blog in 2014, she has released her second book SugarDetoxMe: 100+ Recipes to Curb Cravings and Take Back Your Health on March 8, 2017, followed by How to Make a Plant Love You: Cultivate Green Space In Your Home And Heart on July 9, 2019.

Oakes has also partnered with Payless ShoeSource to create "Zoe & Zac" in April 2009 and her website Source4Style (renamed Le Souk) connects environmentally conscious fashion designers to eco-friendly fabric producers.

Summer Rayne Oakes – Awards, Nominations

Summer Rayne Oakes’ website Source4Stylehad won a 2011 Cartier Women's Initiative Award which also included $20,000.

Summer Rayne Oakes – Net Worth, Salary

The figure on her net worth is around $2 million while the figure on his annual salary is under review and will be updated.

Summer Rayne Oakes – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

On social media handles including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, Summer Rayne Oakes is followed by several hundred thousand followers and counting. She also has a self-titled YouTube channel and an official website- summerrayne.net.