Ashanti's Tourist Ambassador Role 7/23/08

Singer Ashanti has a new gig - as a tourism chief in New York. The multi-talented 27-year-old has been made an ambassador for Nassau County on Long Island.

She was presented with an orange blazer adorned with a tourism patch by County Executive Thomas Suozzi at a news conference at the Rockefeller Centre in Manhattan on Tuesday (22Jul08).

The singer says it is "amazing" to be asked to "give something back to the community". The tourism campaign pitches Nassau as "The Island Next Door" and is targeted at visitors to the city.