As Irena Gerasimenko she worked as a model for Sports Illustrated. Along with her roommate Bernadette Leonard and Jennifer Flavin, she serves as Vice Chairman and collaborated to create a charity, C.O.A.C.H. for Kids and their Families which is a community outreach assistance for children's health. She started acting with two small roles in the television movies, Once Upon a Spy and Cocaine and Blue Eyes. She had a recurring role on Dallas as a girlfriend of Bobby Ewing. She had a series regular role on the television series Cover Up. She played a Soviet bureaucrat on Night Court guest starring in an Emmy nominated episode entitled "Russkie Business". In 1991, Medavoy founded Phoenix Enterprises with Pirie Jones and together with American Telecast produced product marketing television programs including the hair care series 'Beverly Hills Beauty'. Her direct marketing company sold on QVC where Medavoy invented, manufactured and sold beauty, health, fitness and self-help products for women. Her electronic response firm called High Heels and Loafers with partner Pirie Jones created a company at King World to direct response sales. She is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post on topics including President Barack ObamaOprah Winfrey, female body images in the media which she regards as unrealistic and harmful, and her experiences with botox.
Awards and recognition
In 2008 Sean Penn presented the Medavoy family with the Danny Kaye Humanitarian award from UNICEF. Penn spoke at Mike Medavoy's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star unveiling.
In 1984, she married Harris L. Katleman, president and CEO of 20th Century Fox Television in a Jewish ceremony in Beverly Hills, California. In 1995, she married film producer Mike Medavoy. They have a son, Nicholas. She is a founding board member of Truth In Advertising Alliance, which works to fight anorexia and bulimia and pass legislation to outlaw excessive photo shopping models. Medavoy is the co-founder of Team Safe-T which teaches disaster preparedness in California public schools. She served on the Advisory Board of the charity youtube.com; accessed May 12, 2017. which offers safety and community to children who age out of the foster care system at age eighteen. Founded by , ASOH founder Smith said of Medavoy and her charity, "ASOH began as a random act of kindness when I responded to a cry for a help from a young man who had aged out of foster care, and who had secured an apartment but had no means to obtain a solitary item that might make it feel like home.
