Without announcement or fanfare, Maria Menounos breezes into the sustainable Marrakesh House for our cover shoot on a very warm July afternoon.  Sporting a cazh ensemble of shorts, tank, sandals, and straw trilby, she is the epitome of our laid-back LA vibe, completely defying her body of work, rapidly rising star, and appetite for life.  She’s TV’s current “It” girl, poised for a super-star career, should she choose, working for shows such as Access Hollywood, Nightly News and the Today Show. At the same time, she’s also a successful actress and building a solid reputation in filmmaking.  She’s beautiful, incredibly eco-conscious, has her own charity, grows her own organic vegetables, and even does her own Tweeting!  Extremely level headed, confident, down to earth, and in control, I wonder if there’s anything Maria doesn’t do, and do well?  After a great shoot in a fab location with a hot Tesla Roadster and chic green wardrobe, we sat down to find out, and apparently the answer is no!

Coco Eco Mag: How’s your day been with Coco Eco Mag?

Maria Menounos: It’s been fun.  A lot of cool eco looks and designers which is always nice to discover, so it’s been good.

CEM: What was your favorite look today?
MM: I think this one (referring to her Leila Hafzi ensemble).  It’s a really pretty dress, although the Linda Loudermilk seaweed shirt was pretty cool too!

CEM: What turned you onto being green?  How did you get started?
MM: I’ve always been conscious of waste since I was young.  I think growing up the way we did with little means, you’re always conscious of that, but I didn’t know I was being green before going green.  I think that the Hollywood Green show really pushed it to the forefront for me, made it more of a priority, and made me more aware of things.  There were things I didn’t realize, like water bottles, so now I don’t have any water bottles in my house because I realize how many bottles don’t get recycled, and how bad it is for the environment. Little things like that which make a big difference.

CEM: What are some of the other green things you practice in your life?
MM: Well I drove here in my Jetta which is clean diesel TDI car, and I have an organic garden.

CEM: Yes, I’ve heard about you and a rather large zucchini.

MM: A huge zucchini.  It’s so huge it’s bigger than my torso, and it’s still sitting in my kitchen actually as I don’t want to eat because I am so nervous to not have shown everyone I could how big this zucchini is!

Everything I buy, I try to buy green, whether it’s a hot water heater, recycled furniture, anything, and I try not to be gluttonous in always wanting to buy new things, so I recycle old things, like my lawn chairs.  I did some funky things to them to make them fresh and new rather than buying all new lawn chairs.  Right now with this economy, it’s actually so much better to be green anyway, as no one really has the money to do otherwise, anyhow.

CEM: Well when you reinvent items, you get to save money and have something that’s totally one of a kind!  It’s cool.  But I digress!  Tell me about this vegetable garden, because you were saying earlier that you basically eat everyday from your garden.
MM: Yes.  I did a segment on Access Hollywood on this company, Grow Organic, and this lovely woman Karen started this company. She came to my house and taught me how to plant a garden.  I grew up with a garden, and my parents always had fresh vegetables in the house, but I just hadn’t done it on my own as an adult.  I forgot how to do everything, so she retaught me and I went home to make this film Serial Buddies, and when I came back, the garden had just completely blossomed.  Now when I’m home, I eat everyday right out of the garden.  I’ve been making tomato cucumber salads with scallions, and green peppers and chili peppers, and grilling zucchini and okra, so it’s exciting and I love it.

CEM: So tell me about Serial Buddies.  I read it’s the first serial killer buddy film.  Ever?
MM: I think so!  I don’t think you hear about many buddy films about serial killing, but it’s definitely a comedy, and a fun road-trip movie.

CEM: I hear it’s like Napoleon Dynamite meets Dexter?
MM: Exactly.  It’s got a lot of heart and a lot of fun, but it’s definitely a comedy.  They’re like these two Dumb and Dumber characters that happen to be serial killers, and they happen to be on this journey together.  By the end they realize that they’re not really serial killers, and they don’t really want to be serial killers, and it was just a minor moment in their journey to becoming more human.

CEM: I can’t imagine Dumb and Dumber actually being very good at serial killing?

MM: Yeah, they weren’t very good at it!

CEM: You actually produced and starred in this film, correct?
MM: Yes among every other job I had on the set.  I had some colleagues on set and they kept saying, “Is there anything you haven’t yet done?  We want to do a short film.”  They kept filming me every time I would do something different, like I gripped for a month, which was really good for my body because I got very tight and toned!  I directed Second Unit, I operated camera as well, and I did make up sometimes when needed.  I did pretty much everything except for sound.

CEM: Is this because you are an over-achiever, or just because you love to jump in and get involved?

MM: I love making movies.  I’ve been producing since I was nineteen, and all I know is to get in and do it, so the new thing for me on this movie was learning how to Operate.  I had a female DP who thought I had a really good eye for framing and that I should learn more about the lenses, so she taught me.  Then one day, someone told me that we couldn’t get a shot that I really wanted, and I was like, “Give me the camera!” They said “You can’t use the cameras,” and I said, “I own them.  Give me the camera!”  I shot it and said,  “Now do you see?  This was a great shot and you were telling me we can’t do it.”  So it’s a power to have that knowledge so when you’re in a situation where you have naysayers and people who say “I can’t” (my least favorite saying in the world!), you can.

That was exciting, and I love directing as well.  Filmmaking is a lot of fun, but you do have to love it because independent film making on the budget we were on is not a pretty site sometimes.  It was twenty-two hour days for almost eight weeks, so it’s a lot of work.

CEM: Well anything worth having in life is a lot of work, but the reward is huge.
MM: Oh my gosh!  When I see the footage in the edit bay, and I see the shots I lined up and filmed with the camera itself, it’s so rewarding and so worth it, and I want to get back on a set tomorrow.

CEM: Is this eventually where you are heading, or will you always keep your feet in television?

MM: I’ll always do everything as long as I can, and as long as everyone will let me.  I love doing movies, I love doing the news, I love hosting, and I love acting.  I love doing everything, and as of now, I get to do it all, so it’s good.

CEM: What’s it like being one of the hosts of Access Hollywood?  You get to talk to some really cool interesting people.
MM: It’s fun.  You know I had a moment the other day, when I was playing in this celebrity football game, and Joe Montana is throwing me passes from the end zone, and I thought it was so crazy.  Sometimes I don’t really take in the moment, but I did this time, and I get to be in these positions that people can only dream of.  I share my moments with people on Twitter, like “Do you even understand what we would do to be there, forget actually getting to play!”

CEM: And you actually do your own Tweets?
MM: I Tweet all by myself.  No assistants, nobody does it.  Just me.  I don’t think my assistants could come up with half the stuff I Tweet about.  I’m a psychotic sports fan so I’m always tweeting “Did you see that?”

CEM: You were the first person to interview the Obama family as a whole.  How was that?

MM: It was incredible.  I had been on the campaign trail for Nightly News for an entire year, and I had interviewed everyone from John Edwards to John McCain, and Hillary Clinton.  I actually got her first sit-down exclusive.  So throughout the campaign, I’d actually been interviewing everyone, and they were the only ones I hadn’t interviewed yet, and I got the call two days before the Fourth of July.  I was beyond exhausted, and I have to say there was even a hesitation in my voice when my boss called me, as it was the first day I had gotten to actually rest. I was so tired, but I got on the plane and was totally there.  At that time, I didn’t know I was getting the entire family.  It was just Michelle and the Senator, but once I got there, the girls and I and our group all kind of clicked. They jumped in on the interview, and there I was getting this massive exclusive.  I remember going to the airport and I got really teary-eyed and emotional afterwards. I think I must have kind of felt what was coming, knowing that they could potentially win the Presidency, and that this would be such a huge interview.  They were such a wonderful, warm and genuine family, and I was taken aback because I didn’t know what to expect.  It was pretty incredible.

CEM: Tell me about LIV GRN?  You design and consult for them?

MM: I kind of do a little bit of everything.  I think of LIV GRN as my training wheels into the fashion world.  I wanted to be involved in an eco brand, and they’ve come up with this really cool concept.  I pop into the design rooms, I fit things, I tell them what I do and don’t like, so it’s kind of a miscellaneous position, but I love it.

CEM: Apart from LIV GRN, what other sustainable designers do you favor?

MM: Definitely Linda Loudermilk, and Mr. Larkin is one of my favorites as well.

CEM: Any favorite eco beauty products?
MM: Cargo.  I designed an eco Cargo lipstick that is a pretty cool color, actually.  I have a few things from Josie Maran’s line too.

CEM: Let’s talk about some of the charities you support.  You started Take Action Hollywood?
MM: I started Take Action Hollywood nine years ago when I moved out to LA, and we have a lot of programs we work with the Children’s’ Hospital.  I get involved in pretty much everything – dogs, children, pretty much everything under the sun as I connect with so many different issues.  I have family members who have struggled with different diseases and I work with the diabetes organizations a lot, and I am the Diabetes Aware Ambassador for EIF (Entertainment Industry Foundation).

CEM: With all that, you have a very full plate.  You have Access Hollywood, the Today Show, Nightly News, Serial Buddies, LIV GRN, Take Action Hollywood; you grow your own veggies, and even do your own Tweets!  Anything else?
MM: I’m writing a drama script, and have a few things up my sleeve that I can’t talk about yet, but I can promise you that I’m going to continue to be as busy or more busy than I ever have!