Mayo — Twenty-one year-old Kristen Hurst of Mayo has been selected as one of the top 20 finalists in maurices Main Street Model Search. maurices is a national women’s clothing retailer.

Nationwide, nearly 1,500 submissions were received and online voters narrowed down the search to 100. Most recently maurices announced the top 20 finalists and Hurst is one of them.

Hurst, as one of the top 20, will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. on April 16 with her mother for a one-day casting call that will include interviews, hair and makeup sessions and test photos.

“She’s never flown before, so we’re really excited,” Hurst said of her mother.

Hurst was born and raised in Mayo and she is the daughter of Donna Dennis, Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office secretary.

Her mom couldn’t be prouder and even Hurst’s two brothers, Kole, 17 and Kayne, 14, are rooting for their big sister. All three kids, Hurst said, have the same initials with their first and middle names beginning with K and D respectively, so they are all KDH.

“My mom’s corny,” said Hurst, laughing.

About her two brothers, Hurst said, “They’re great. Kayne’s very supportive.”

When Hurst told him she was one of the finalists, he got all excited and starting hugging her and hooting and hollering.

Hurst is a 2008 graduate of Lafayette High School and she also holds an associate of arts degree from NFCC, after which she went on to Florida School of Massage. She is currently working as a licensed massage therapist out of Le Chateau in downtown Mayo; Massage by Kristen, if you will. One day she hopes to work at a spa.

“maurices is like my favorite store,” said Hurst. “I shop there for everything.”

With an extensive line of clothing from career wear to casual to dressy attire that includes plus-sizes, Hurst said they have clothes for any occasion and they fit every girl. Hurst shops at the Lake City store and she said everyone always asks her where she gets her clothes.

Hurst said one day while shopping at the store, she saw the notice announcing the competition and saw that the deadline was Jan. 16 at noon.

“I was like, if I remember, I’ll sign up,” she said, kind of half-heartedly.

When she got home and checked online, however, the website to sign up wasn’t available yet. She finally realized there was a time difference because the contest headquarters was in Minnesota. Later, when she tried logging on again, there it was, so she submitted her application.

A couple weeks later when the site posted all 1,500 submissions, Hurst said, “Oh, my gosh. There is no way I’m gonna do this. What was I thinking?”

Not disheartened, though, Hurst went on to the next step and got all her friends and family to vote for her online, even posting it on her Facebook page to encourage folks to vote.

“It doesn’t tell you your vote count online,” said Hurst. “So I was on pins and needles.”

She said she probably annoyed all her friends with the constant reminders over the space of 21 days to vote for her.

“That was the longest 21 days of my life,” she said. “I’m like, come on!”

On March 19, Hurst received an e-mail that she was selected as one of the top 100 semi-finalists. The next step was to make a video explaining why she wanted to be in the contest and then submit it online.

“I love making videos,” Hurst said. “Me and my cousins make them all the time.”

Hurst and her cousin Rebecca decided to go ahead and make the video and submit it online. The judges would then pick the top 20 girls from those videos.

“That’s cutting 80 girls,” Hurst said. “I was like, oh, I’ll just be myself. I’ll just make it and if they like it, you know, go for it.”

It only took two days for Hurst to get the joyous news that she had made the top 20, which meant she was on her way to Minnesota. She was expecting another e-mail, but the news arrived in a different way.

“I was driving home from the beach and I couldn’t drive and text,” she said. “So I kept bugging my boyfriend to check my e-mail.”

He kept telling her there was nothing yet. Then finally, she got a text from her cousin Rebecca that said “Congratulations!”

The results were posted online and no e-mails were sent to the girls who had made the top 20.

Hurst said everyone is so excited for her and being optimistic that she’s going to be one of the top 12 winners and go on to be a model for maurices that she feels like a celebrity.

“We’ll see,” said Hurst. “I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I’m so excited. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I’m the only girl from Florida. I’m the only girl from the South who made it.”

The other 19 girls are all from the Midwest and the West Coast.

A judging panel from maurices, which will include Christopher Straub from Lifetime Television’s popular show “Project Runway”, will select the 12 winners.

Each winner will receive a photo shoot and national exposure at maurices locations, maurices.com, as well as through mailers and social media. Additionally, they will be awarded a $1,500 maurices gift card and a $7,500 charitable makeover for a nonprofit in their hometown. Hurst has selected Relay for Life for her donation of prize money.  

On April 23, the 12 winners, who will model for maurices in upcoming fall, holiday and spring campaigns, will be announced online at www.mauricesmainstreetmodel.com.

“This contest is about finding real women in all sizes to represent the maurices brand,” said Brad Hartmann, maurices vice president of marketing.

For more information and to follow the contest you can log on to www.mauricesmainstreetmodel.com. Be sure to check out Hurst’s profile and wish her luck!