By Julia Train
On Saturday, June 8, as Elizabeth Mendel, 22, was being crowned Miss New Jersey 2024, she made sure to take it all in so she’d never forget the moment.
Although Mendel repeatedly told herself to remember what was happening, as advised by Miss New Jersey 2023 Victoria Mozitis, she said the entire experience felt like a dream, and still does.
“It’s still a little blurry because you go through so many emotions in a few minutes,” said Mendel.
The following morning, she woke up in her hotel room at Resorts Casino, checked her phone and thought to herself, “one more day of competing.” She remembered the night before when she saw her crown and sash on the desk.
Mendel, from Cape May Court House, was 16 years old when she started in the Miss America Opportunity.
It was because of a conversation with her longtime best friend, Miss New Jersey 2022 Augostina Mallous.
Mendel and the former Miss New Jersey were on the bus heading to cheer at a high school basketball game.
On the ride, Mallous, who held the title of Miss New Jersey’s Teen at the time, excitedly told Mendel about pageants.
“She said, ‘Oh my gosh, you need to compete. There’s one more pageant left.’ And I was like, ‘Auggie, there’s no way. I wouldn’t be good at something like that,’” Mendel recalled.
Mallous gave her the paperwork to get involved soon after, giving her two days to decide if she wanted to participate and one day to fill out the paperwork,
A few weeks later, Mendel ended up competing and winning Miss Stars and Stripes’ Outstanding Teen and later competed for Miss New Jersey’s Teen before aging out.
She then took a few years off to heal from an eating disorder, which is her Community Service Initiative (CSI), and won the Miss Avalon 2023 and Miss South Jersey 2024.
“I, as they say, ‘caught the pageant bug,’” said Mendel. “I knew I wanted to come back into the program and shed light on what I struggled with.”
When she was crowned Miss Avalon in September 2022, it was Mendel’s first year back in the program. The title granted her a ticket to the Miss New Jersey 2023 competition, where she was third runner-up.
This year, she was given another chance as she participated with the title of Miss South Jersey 2024 and won.
As part of her CSI, “Image is Everywhere,” Mendel is currently working alongside the National Eating Disorder Association to push for passing legislation regarding eating disorder awareness and speaking to students about her personal journey.
Mendel recalled her 10-minute private interview she had during the week of the Miss New Jersey pageant. She was asked if the program–or pageants in general–makes her struggles worse.
“I said no. It’s actually different because this holds me accountable for every little girl, boy, mom, dad, anybody that looks up to me and that uses me as a light,” said Mendel. “It holds me accountable because I know it’s not just me.”
Looking to the year ahead, Mendel, who will compete to be Miss America 2025, said she’s most excited to see the organization’s growth, advocate more for her CSI and share her story.
“It’s definitely a taboo topic that a lot of people don’t want to talk about because it’s an uncomfortable topic,” said Mendel. “And if I share my personal story, and it only helps one person, that’s all that matters to me.”
She also looks forward to advocating for the program and changing people’s minds on what pageantry is.
“We’re not just beauty queens that stand up on stage and smile,” she said. “Being Miss New Jersey feels like a dream … [it’s] one of the greatest blessings in my life. I can’t believe it but I’m really grateful and I use that gratitude as a way to push me to make everybody in the state of New Jersey proud of me.”
