Meet the Playboy 'Playmate of the Year' who has become obsessed with trading stocks

Playboy's 2014 "Playmate of the Year" Kennedy Summers recently found a passion for day trading.

"I love trading. I can wake up and make sure I can make money and still pay my rent," the 28-year model/actress said during a telephone call on Wednesday morning while getting her makeup done for a TV show shoot in Los Angeles.

Back in April, Summers was approached to be a speaker at the Equities.com Small Cap Stars Spring Conference, which took place in Times Square in early June.

Ahead of the event, Long Island-based Cyber Trading University trained her in day trading for free. (They do not pay or sponsor her, she said.) 

"I got hooked on it," she said.

She added that she finds trading "fun" and "exciting." She also admitted that it was "terrifying" at first.

"I don't know what any of these words mean?" she said, recalling her first day in front of the trading screens. "I learned pretty quickly."

Summers' grandfather was a banker. Her grandparents tried to teach her about stocks as a kid, but she "never really explored it."

That's all changed now.

Every trader has a routine

One of the appeals of day trading is the hours. 

Since Summers lives in LA, she wakes up around 5 a.m. PT and trades "usually at home in my pajamas." Cyber Trading University lets Summers use its chat room services for free. (The service costs $297 per month. Summers said she promotes them on Twitter to her more than 15,000 followers).

In the chat room, she talks to her teacher, Fausto Pugliese, about stocks that he's looking at each morning. Summers said she likes to trade the most active stocks, the big gainers and losers, because of volume and volatility. 

When she's finished, it's still early on the West Coast. That means she has the rest of her day to dedicate to modeling and acting.

Day trading has also been a way for Summers to supplement her income. Modeling doesn't always mean a consistent paycheck. To be fair, neither does trading. 

"It's a good supplement to earn some extra money."  

Summers claimed that on a good day she can make around $600. There's been some days where she'd lose around $1,300, she said. On days when she loses, she said it makes her want to work harder. 

"I just try to balance it. I can't win everyday," she said.

She's still a beginner.

A strange path to trading

Summers was born in Berlin, Germany. Her father was in the US Army. He passed away when she was a kid. She grew up in Hampton, Virginia. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Mary Baldwin, an all-female liberal arts college in Staunton, Virginia. 

After college, she moved to Milan to pursue a career and modeling. She also spent time modeling in Asia. Afterwards, she enrolled in medical school in Curacao. She was planning on pursuing a career as a plastic surgeon. 

After she completed two-and-a-half years of med school, she was "getting a little restless." She decided to submit some snapshots to Playboy's website. They ended up flying her out for a test shoot. She was booked as a Playmate and appeared in the magazine as Miss December 2013.

She later became the "Playmate of the Year." That title came with a one-year lease on a MINI Cooper and a check for $100,000, which, she noted, a big portion goes to taxes. 

As for her future aspirations, she wants to stick with trading. 

"I want to continue day trading. I want to trade my own funds. This year, I want to live in London. I can work the market from 2 to 3 [in the afternoon]. I love the freedom and the flexibility." 

She also wants to write a book to get "younger girls to learn about managing finances."