Over the years Indianapolis has been able to claim a variety of things, from having the most popular race track in the world and a Super Bowl-winning football team, to being the birthplace of commercial insulin.
However, the city can now boast another claim: America’s most beautiful 20-something-year-old woman.
People Magazine, in its issue released last week, named Indianapolis native Mercedez McDowell as a winner for its Real Beauty at Every Age contest. Four women were selected to represent different age categories, and McDowell, 23, was chosen as the symbol of beauty for her decade.
“I was super excited, I really was,” said McDowell, whose inner beauty glows through her bright personality, infectious laugh and ready smile. “You just never would expect to win a competition like that.”
McDowell and the women in the other three categories were selected out of more than 20,000 who submitted photos. Readers were invited to vote on their favorite selections, although People made the final decision.
Born in Indianapolis, McDowell attended Lawrence North High School and graduated from Indiana University, with a customized major in multimedia broadcast and advertisement.
While a student, McDowell was active in Phi Sigma Theta National Honors Society, Campus Crusade for Christ, the NAACP, the Bloomington Volunteer Network and the LAMP (Liberal Arts and Management Program) honors certificate program.
After graduation, McDowell moved to the Atlanta area, where she currently resides and works as a marketing and public relations consultant. She is also active as a marketing and social media coordinator with the Urban Youth Workers Institute.
In addition, McDowell operates an initiative called Spok3n (pronounced spoken), a coalition of artists whose goal is to “spread love” throughout the community with art.
Despite having what many would describe as classic beauty, McDowell did not expect to be selected for People’s contest.
First, she entered the competition relatively late, after learning about it through an email. After going online to enter, McDowell noticed that thousands of contestants had already submitted photos.
“It was like pages and pages of women,” she said. “When you see all those photos you don’t really think that you’re going to win. You just put it in there and just say, well, ‘I’ll just let the Lord do his work.’ You never know what might happen.”
To her surprise, McDowell was selected as a finalist in her category.
“I thought that finalist meant something like one out of 300,” McDowell said, laughing. “No, it meant one of five. I was like, oh, OK.”
Then to her shock, McDowell received a phone call saying that she was the winner in her category. She was flown to New York City for a photo shoot for individual shots and some with the women from the other age categories.
“It was a quick trip, and I didn’t know what to expect,” McDowell said. “They had us right in the heart of the city, a block away from Fifth Avenue and Times Square. The photo shoot was amazing. We were in a huge room with a huge backdrop. I had taken photos before, but had not experienced anything this grand before.”
McDowell, however, noted that the photo shoot was hard work, and reminded her of why she has not pursued a modeling career.
“I’m like a normal person in model terms, where most models range from a size nothing to size six, or size 16 and above,” she said. “I don’t see it (modeling) happening, unless there’s a category for normal people that starts to come about in the world.”
McDowell added that she loves the performance arts, and is pursuing an acting career, along with art and writing. In the meantime, she wants to use her experience with people to spread what the “true definition” of beauty and that it is not just how a woman looks.
“When you think about the standards of society, what external beauty is like, you just never consider yourself as being most beautiful,” she said. “These days, there is so much pressure for women to be perfect.”
As a result, McDowell added, it is easy for some women to just look at all of their flaws and faults, and convince themselves they are not beautiful, “rather than just embracing who they are” and how God has created them.
“We are really happy for her, and the family has been riding on a wave of excitement,” said McDowell’s proud grandmother, Ramona Davidson. “She definitely has a bright future, and we are looking forward to what’s coming next.”
