Petra is a global brand ambassador for Chopard, Mercedes and Tumi. Her major breakthrough was in 2003 as the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover girl. As a model, Petra has achieved international success, working with brands such as Clinique, Pantene, Clarins, La Perla, Max Factor and Victoria’s Secret.
Petra founded her charity, Happy Hearts Fund, in 2005 with a mission to rebuild safe, resilient schools in areas impacted by natural disasters for children who were forgotten. Her self-understanding of the power of Mother Nature helps her connect with those in need of aid, empowerment, and hope after their lives have been shattered, as she was blessed to survive a near death experience in the 2004 Tsunami. “We can’t control nature, but we can control the actions we take.”
In the Fall of 2017 Happy Hearts Fund merged with All Hands Volunteers to create All Hands and Hearts - Smart Response in order to efficiently and effectively address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. All Hands and Hearts arrives early for first response and stays late to rebuild schools and homes in a disaster-resilient way.
www.allhandsandhearts.org. It rebuilt 219 disaster resilient schools, serving over 106,000 children in 12 countries and have helped more than 1,183,000 community members in 18 countries around the world. All that through the support of 52,000 volunteers from 102 countries.
In 2017, Petra was appointed by the UNISDR as a Disaster Risk
Reduction Champion and Tsunami Awareness Advocate. She is founder and board member of Happy Hearts Mexico, Happy Hearts Indonesia and Happy Hearts Czech Republic. She also serves on the advisory board of the acclaimed Glamour’s Women of the Year Fund.
Petra is also a renowned public speaker and the author of “Love Always, Petra” which she wrote to help children affected by the Tsunami with 100% of the proceeds being sent to support children. She has received several accolades from organizations for her philanthropic work including The United Nations, Women Together, Glamour Woman of the Year, and Do Something.