If you don’t know who Veronica Belmont is, you might have to crawl out from under the rock you’ve been living under for the last several years. And her star is only growing brighter. Whether its Tekzilla or Qore, or whether you know her from TWiT or CNET, once you do, you never forget. Enjoy our Xclusive with Veronica.

PureStyle: When you hear the term, Internet Celebrity… Does that make you smile? Or do you pay any attention to it? What’s your view when people talk about you, and others such as Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Sarah Lane… in those terms?

Veronica Belmont: I honestly don’t know how it makes me feel! It’s pretty weird to be considered a “celebrity” in any sense, but I guess each niche has it’s own group of people that are pretty well known. I mean, the only places I get recognized are tech and gaming conferences! I think we’re a lot more accessible than traditional celebrities – it’s pretty easy to get in touch with any one of us.

PureStyle: You grew in Connecticut, went to college in Boston (Emerson)… Being an East Coast girl, do you ever get the itch to pack up and move back or are you now at home on the West Coast and in San Francisco?

Veronica Belmont: I definitely miss the East coast, but mainly because my family is out there. From time to time I do wish for an actual hot summer, or maybe some snow! But San Francisco just feels like home now, and I can’t really see myself moving away any time soon.

PureStyle: I’ve heard you talk before about getting started in radio. Then you transitioned to CNet/Mahalo/Rev3. How did all that come about? Tell us a little about your story…

Veronica Belmont: It’s a long story! I’ll try to give you the abridged version: I was hired at CNET as an audio intern, and shortly thereafter I began producing Buzz Out Loud, their daily tech podcast. After about 6 months, I was hired full time to produce the video series First Look from the Labs, and to continue producing BOL. CNET TV relaunched, and so I also began hosting video segments. This was super weird for me, since I’d never done any on-air hosting other than chatting on the podcast (and that was just audio!).

I was at CNET for three years, and hosted video for them for about a year and a half. In July of 2007 I left the company to do a new video show called Mahalo Daily for Jason Calacanis’ new company, Mahalo. It was a great 8 months with them, but the commute to LA was a bit too much for me (and I wanted to start focusing on technology videos again). So back in April 2008 I joined the team at Revision3 to co-host Tekzilla, and also started hosting Qore for Future US/Sony.

PureStyle: As one of the sexiest women on the planet, not just the net… how does that help you in what you do? Or does being a female, especially an attractive one, hurt you?

Veronica Belmont: Did my mother tell you to say that?? You’re making me blush! I don’t really know how to answer this question without sounding like a tool. OK, if someone thinks I’m cute and wants to check out one of my shows, that’s great! Hopefully they’ll stick around because they like the content. The main downside is that sometimes you have to convince people that you actually know what you’re talking about – they make assumptions before they get a chance to know you. That’s probably my kryptonite; I go a little crazy when people think I’m just reading off of a prompter.

PureStyle: Speaking of the female/tech world. You are an avid gamer. What are some of your favorite games? What might we find Veronica Belmont parked in front of a TV playing? Or are you a PC gamer?

Veronica Belmont: I play on almost everything, but I play on my PC more than anything these days. I was one of the founders of my World of Warcraft guild, Alea Iacta Est on Earthen Ring, so I spend a lot of time there working on my 80 shaman (for the horde!). I love all of the Civilization games, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, Left4Dead, and I’m really looking forward to The Sims 3. Console wise, I’ve been playing Farcry2, LittleBigPlanet and the Fat Princess demo for PS3.

I wish I had more time for console games, but WoW is like a second job. In a good way, though.

PureStyle: Talking about gaming… How did you get involved in Qore? And can you tell people a little about the show in case they don’t know.

Veronica Belmont: We call Qore an “interactive magazine,” and it’s a monthly show that’s available only on the PlayStation Network. We cover new games that are coming out, chat with developers and producers, and also take a look at gaming culture in general. Plus, we’ve got demos and betas!

People know Qore as a Sony product, but I actually work for a publishing company called Future US, who produces the show for Sony. They also publish magazines like PlayStation: The Official Magazine, Official XBox Magazine, and PC Gamer. I’d written a freelance article for PC Gamer (about the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for WoW) and was friends with some of the guys over there already. They knew I loved games and had experience in front of the camera, so it was a great fit!

PureStyle: Gaming… Tech… Down to earth… You are truly every geek’s dream girl. Is that flattering or scary?

Veronica Belmont: There are far too many kinds of geeks out there for that to be true! For example, I don’t know much about comic books other than basic lore. I like Star Trek better than Star Wars, so that alienates about half of the geek population at least, I’d say…

But as for the ones that do enjoy my work, it’s very flattering. The Tekzilla fans especially are such great contributors to the show, I don’t know what we’d do without them.

PureStyle: What do you look for in a guy? What features attract you?

Veronica Belmont: Definitely someone who understands me and my interests, and doesn’t think it’s weird when I spend 6 hours gaming or if need to write a Twitter post about something totally inane. They’ve got to be cute, smart and funny (I’m sounding like an OKCupid ad now), and have a high level of appreciation of Internet memes! But I totally lucked out on my boyfriend. He’s the greatest.

PureStyle: What are some of your hobbies outside of tech? What else do you like to do?

Veronica Belmont: I’m kind of a coffee nerd, and I love trying new restaurants and food. I just bought a new bike, and I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to ride it around San Francisco more! I also like to indoor rock climb and play volleyball with friends.

I also have another podcast with my friend Tom Merritt (from CNET) called The Sword and Laser. It’s a book club for science fiction and fantasy novels, and we’ve had almost 20 episodes so far (we record once or twice a month). I love reading, so it’s a great way to talk to other people about books and learn about some new authors.

PureStyle: Are you living your dream? Talking tech for a living… Or is there something else you would like to do?

Veronica Belmont: I’m living a very unexpected dream, but I’m no less thankful for it. I’ve found a really great community here in San Francisco and online, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m not even sure what else I would do if I decided to stop doing video tomorrow; I’d love to keep working in the gaming and/or technology industry, maybe as a writer or producer. But for now I’m enjoying the ride!

Want more Veronica?

• VeronicaBelmont.com
• Tekzilla
• Facebook
• Friendfeed
• Twitter

Oh… and of course in our article, “Top 10 Coolest Geeks On The Net“