By Joy Bergmann
Meredith Wheeler is busy preparing for the June 26 and 27 taping, which will yield up to 15 hour-long episodes. “It’s a triple-crown event,” she says.
Meredith strides in on Friday night wearing no makeup. A simple tank top reveals the rose tattoo on her right shoulder and a silver belly-button ring. Denim shorts show off her slender legs and secure a purple beeper. She’s miffed her cell phone is out of service and no one has paged her this evening. She sits for a full set of acrylic nails with a French manicure. “It won’t clash with any of my outfits,” she explains.
Square.
A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, Meredith works at the Museum of Science and Industry, guiding visitors through its captured German submarine, Pioneer Zephyr train, and mock coal mine. She laughs at the job’s lack of glamour. “Oh, I look so attractive in my helmet and tool belt. I tell people, don’t come see me today. I’m in the coal mine.”
She’s optimistic about her prospects. “Things are starting to go well–I would love for them to take off.” So far she’s been in a few magazines and in an Internet swimwear catalog called Body Body. Zipping from expressway to city streets, she smiles. “I love these pageants. I really do. The first time I didn’t win, I didn’t place. I came back because it was fun.”
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Meredith hopes most of her fans will show up for the weekend’s festivities. “I know my modeling manager, Mike Hernandez, will be there.” She met him at a prior pageant, when he gave her his business card. “He’s been working with me on my modeling and my singing,” Meredith says, “putting my portfolio out there for people to see me, getting my face out there.” She also found a personal photographer at a Glamore event. “This pageant has opened a lot of doors for me,” she says. People have recognized her from cable appearances; one couple asked for her autograph in front of Excalibur. “I got all bougie over that,” she says, “you know, a little snotty.”
