Blinding You With Science

By Jim Ruland

Every one of us is made up of the same sort of atoms and molecules. But as Raquel Pomplun knows, some arrangements are more pleasing to the eye than others.

The daughter of a biochemist, this Chula Vista native (who went to elementary school in Tijuana before returning to the United States) is following in her father’s footsteps by seeking a degree in biochemistry.

While she conducts experiments in the lab, she’ll be creating chemical reactions of a different kind as a Playboy Playmate, proving that not all cover models are cut from the same genetic cloth.

“If you look at the history of Playboy,” she says, “and look at every single Playmate, which I have had the opportunity to do, it’s been pretty diverse.”

Named Playboy’s Miss April 2012, Pomplun posed with Grammy-nominee Bruno Mars and is one of just a handful of Playmates to appear on the cover with a celebrity. On July 27, she’ll be hosting the San Diego Playboy Scramble, a one-day golf tournament at the Maderas Country Club in Poway.

Others might be overwhelmed by being plunged into the limelight, but Pomplun sees it differently: “I could not feel more blessed.”