After conquering the world of mediocre CBS three-camera sitcoms, uncharted music, and OnlyFans, Renee Olstead has turned to the world of campaign politics. The 2024 Penthouse Pet of the Year and self-appointed union boss for sex workers has landed herself a starring role as deputy campaign manager for Francesca Hong.
Olstead, now using her married name, Renee Faust, first achieved notoriety as a child actress. She played Lauren Miller on the CBS sitcom Still Standing from 2002 to 2006 and later popped up on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She even tried her hand at jazz standards, with albums produced by David Foster. Neither the albums nor any of her singles charted.
In 2020, she joined the digital gold rush with an OnlyFans account. By January 2023, she was Penthouse Pet of the Month, and by 2024, she had ascended to the lofty title of Penthouse Pet of the Year. Never one to miss a branding opportunity, she publicly embraced the label of sex worker and founded the Coalition for American Sex Workers (CASW – LOCAL 304), lobbying for decriminalization and related policy changes
In April 2025, Francesca Hong and three other progressive Assembly members personally presented Olstead with an official Wisconsin State Assembly citation for her sex work. The document, signed at the Capitol on April 19 and delivered at Milwaukee’s Socialist Anti-Gala, specifically honored both her advocacy for sex-worker rights and her selection as the first Wisconsinite named Penthouse Pet of the Year. The same lawmaker who later elevated Olstead to a senior campaign role had already given her formal legislative recognition for the exact policy agenda Hong is now advancing through Assembly Bill 1193.
Assembly Bill 1193 would fully decriminalize adult prostitution, solicitation, and the operation of brothels in Wisconsin. The bill also creates a formal “sex workers’ bill of rights,” granting those engaged in commercial sex the same labor protections as other workers — minimum wage, overtime, anti-discrimination rules, workers’ compensation, health benefits, privacy protections, and recognition as legitimate independent contractors. Discrimination against sex workers in housing, banking, and healthcare would also be banned.
Olstead, going by her married name Renee Faust, now serves in a senior operational role on Hong’s gubernatorial campaign and has been a paid campaign operative since at least January of this year. Her X account carries the bio “HONG 4 GOV” and links to Hong’s get-out-the-vote page. She has publicly organized campaign events, coordinated logistics for high-profile surrogates including Hasan Piker, and directed door-knocking efforts. Faust herself has appeared on behalf of the campaign in Instagram videos with far-left radical Kat Abughazaleh, a former Media Matters operative and socialist congressional candidate who lost her Illinois primary after running on an abolish-ICE and “genocide” platform.
Hong, the Democratic Socialists of America-backed frontrunner, has built her brand around working-class authenticity and progressive purity tests. The elevation of a former child actress turned Penthouse Pet of the Year and sex-worker organizer to a top campaign post offers voters a crystal-clear signal of the priorities and personnel that define her political machine.
