Save Karyn is the name of both a Web site and a book. SaveKaryn.com was the first notable “web panhandling” (or “cyberbegging”) site. Save Karyn: One Shopaholic’s Journey to Debt and Back, is the book chronicling the events leading up to, and through, the height of the site’s popularity.

The creator of both works is Karyn Bosnak, originally a television producer, raised in the U.S. state of Illinois, who has lived much of her adult life in the greater New York City area. Up until 2000, she had a relatively high-paying job, and wasn’t really concerned about going into debt to feed her affection for buying designer-label products. However, when she was laid-off, her credit card debt of over $20,000 started looming larger every month she was unable to find steady employment. In the summer of 2002, mostly out of desperation, she registered the Internet domain name savekaryn.com, and launched a site blatantly asking for donations.

SaveKaryn.com started in June 2002 when, after losing my job, I realized I couldn’t pay my credit card bills - credit card bills that added up to over $20,000 - credit card bills I ran up by shopping. Yep. Too many Starbucks lattes. Too many BCBG tops. Too many great Gucci purses.

While lying in bed one night, I thought to myself, “Self, $20,000 isn’t that much money. If 20,000 people gave me just one dollar, then all my yucky debt would be gone!” So on a whim, I created a silly little low-budget website asking people to help me pay off my $20,000 credit card bills. All I needed was 20,000 generous individuals…

Before I knew it, people around the world were logging on to savekaryn.com and sending me money through PayPal and the mail. In 20 short weeks, my website received over two million hits and all my debt was paid off. (NOTE: I have since donated all the money people gave me to charity.)

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One of the most popular celebrity on the Internet, Cindy, is a desired Supermodel, an accomplished host, producer and actress. She brings huge publicity to her projects and is a perennial favorite of talk, entertainment and radio shows. Cindy is a self -made icon of the Twenty-First Century.

Margolis emerged as a star in the early days of the Internet. She was named Yahoo! Internet Life magazine’s “Queen of the Internet” from 1996-1999. She also found her way into the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records as a result of being the “most downloaded” person in 1999. At the age of 34, the peak of her popularity, she was downloaded 70,000 times in a span of 24 hours.

In an April 2006 interview with The Washington Post, Margolis discussed her nude photo session for the December 2006 issue of Playboy, saying that she had posed for Playboy many times in the past, but never full frontal nude. She cited her good looks at age 40 and wanting to be an inspiration to mothers and women her age as the reason she chose to finally pose nude. “It will be fun to go up against the 20-year-olds and show them that they don’t have anything on me!” she told the AP. In an interview with EXTRA she said that Desperate Housewives had been an inspiration for her as it showed that mothers her age can also be fit and sexy. Margolis’ nude pictorial was published in the December 2006 issue of Playboy. A portion of the proceeds from issues sold will go to a charity for which Margolis is a spokesperson, Resolve. The charity aims to get fertility treatment better covered by insurance companies. Read More…

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