Candice Accola, the porcelain skin beauty, stars as Caroline Forbes in the hit series "Vampires Diaries." She includes backup singer for Hannah Montana's movie and tour among the list of her credits.   With millions of fans, Candice has a huge base of adoring fans.  Not only beautiful, fun and talented, Candice also has some intelligent advice for us.

It is my pleasure to welcome Candice Accola to The Global Townhall.
 

Gabrielle Reilly:  What is one of your favorite life philosophies that may inspire our readers?

Candice Accola:  No doesn't mean never, it just means not yet. Visualize what you want to accomplish and work like hell to get it. 

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  What advice can you offer for building such a successful career?

Candice Accola:  Know what you want. Don't compare your accomplishments or failures to your competition and know that careers are built differently for everyone.

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  Who is your role model?

Candice Accola:  My parents. Their tenacity at life, love, and work constantly inspires me. 

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  How do you balance your life, look so good AND do "Vampires Diaries?"

Candice Accola:  I do my best to look at the bigger picture and not sweat the small stuff. I make it a point to have alone time. I value that some of life's best moments happen over a meal with your family or a glass of wine with your friends. And when life seems like a lot to bear, I dance around like a kid until I laugh. 

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  What does your weekly fitness routine look like?

Candice Accola:  I've just started training with Mike Alexander in Los Angeles and he has me doing a lot of resistance training along with high reps paired with low weight. His routines keep my heart rate up so I feel the cardio impact of the weight training as well.  Back in Atlanta, Katerina introduced me to a dance studio that offers great classes that I'm looking forward to getting back to.

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  What does your diet look like throughout the year?

Candice Accola:  A few constants in my diet are oatmeal, non-fat greek yogurt, hummus, turkey and some form of mixed greens. Those things are always in my kitchen. Otherwise my diet varies according to the season. I make it a point to try new foods at new restaurants and Atlanta has an amazing restaurant scene! I love going to places where substitutions aren't allowed. When all the components of the dish are on the plate for a reason. It's important to watch what you eat but you have to enjoy exploring your palate as well! It's all about balance. 


 

Gabrielle Reilly:  What are your favorite beauty tips?

Candice Accola:  Take your make-up off every night! Also, less is more. It doesn't matter how much cover-up you have on your face, which designer made your dress, or if your shoes are in season; feeling beautiful starts from the inside and shines out. As cheesy and gag worthy as that sounds, we all know it's true :-)

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  What color do you prefer your hair?

Candice Accola:  Red Heads have more fun but I always felt like I was wearing a wig. I feel most like myself as a blonde. 


 

Gabrielle Reilly:  What do you do in your free time?

Candice Accola:  Most of my free time is spent furnishing my new apartment in Georgia; especially searching for albums to feed my new found record collecting addiction. I can't seem to get enough LPs! I've also been singing with an 80's cover band that our crew guys put together for the wrap party and hope we keep it up for season two! 

 

Gabrielle Reilly:  What has been your favorite career highlight?

Candice Accola:  I could not be more grateful for the opportunities I've come across in my career thus far so it's hard to choose just one. Top Three would be: telling my parents I got a record deal, running out on stage and being hit with the scream of 18,000 people every night on the Miley Cyrus tour, and of course, hearing the news that The Vampire Diaries was being picked up for a second season.

Gabrielle Reilly:  You have become very passionate about Turn the Corner Foundation.  Can you tell us about that?

Candice Accola:  A very dear childhood friend got very sick and after years of frustration and misdiagnosis, she found out she had Lyme disease. I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of Lyme and after hearing it's conceived from a tick bite I thought it'd be an easy treatment process. Boy was I wrong! When I think of all the components of this complex disease, the treatments and the political separation within the medical community revolving around Lyme, I am still shocked. 

I decided that I had to help. I couldn't sit idly by and hear any more gut wrenching stories of individuals, couples and families who'd been misdiagnosed and thus treated for the wrong disease in the same fashion my friend and her family were misled.

My friend's mother introduced me to Turn the Corner. I was so impressed with their documentary, Under Our Skin and their Physicians Training Program that I knew I had found a great organization to lend my voice to. It's a new partnership, but I could not be more excited to be working with them in order to increase awareness and continue my own education on Lyme.  

Thanks very much for the great information Candice!