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Milwaukee Makeover

By Diane Pathieu

If you got the opportunity to make yourself over...

What would you do?

One lucky Milwaukee mom is getting that opportunity.

She, and dozens of other women, entered a contest to win a free "Milwaukee Makeover." The contest is offered by Enhancing Light Cosmetic Laser Centers, Modern Touch Dental, the Wisconsin Athletic Club, and other area businesses.

The idea came from a lovely young woman named Kelly Becker.

Becker, a co-owner of the Enhancing Light center in Franklin, had her own makeover experience a few years ago. She appeared on a makeover TV show, and got surgery, dental work, and more. When the Sheboygan woman's look was unveiled on national TV, she couldn't believe how different she looked and felt.

"Just to make myself feel happy inside, to have a new outlook on life, it really helped me overall," she remembered.

Because that experience was so positive, she wanted to provide a similar opportunity to someone else. She and Nicki Rust of Enhancing Light began recruiting local businesses to be a part of the prize package.

The next step was to find their winner.

"We're looking for somebody that's really deserving of this, maybe somebody who couldn't afford it on their own, and offering to give them kind of a new chance," Nicki Rust told us.

Many people wrote letters and sent pictures, detailing why they deserved to win the makeover. After making some tough choices, the list was whittled down to three women. All appeared on "The Morning Blend," on TODAY'S TMJ4, and viewers got to vote for their favorite.

Michelle Weber's story struck a chord with Kelly and Nicki, and the viewers. Michelle has had a tough year.

"With the economy my husband and I have both had challenges, pay cuts, we left a home that we thought we would be in forever. So that was a huge, huge something to overcome as a family," she told us frankly.

But that didn't stop Michelle from beginning her own makeover. She recently lost more than 100 pounds. She really wanted the makeover, but wasn't sure she wanted to ask for it publicly.

"It was hard. I contemplated, do I really want to put myself out there, do I really want to show people, hey I weighed over 200 pounds?" she asked herself.

Michelle's compelling story won the viewers over, and our cameras were there when she got her big news.

"Thank you so much," she said tearfully. "I cannot tell you how much this means to me."

Michelle's makeover includes laser treatments and skin tightening, major dental work, a gym membership and personal trainer, dance lessons, and a new hairdo courtesy of another former reality TV star, Erinn Lobdell from "Survivor."

"It can, really, a tiny tiny change can really preempt big ones," Lobdell explained her involvement.

Michelle can't wait to get going.

"It's an unbelievable package, and I feel so lucky that I've been selected as the makeover finalist, I mean winner, I thank Milwaukee, everybody who voted for me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

No makeover is complete without the "before" and "after" pictures.

We'll be checking in with Michelle along her journey.

And when it's all done, we'll reveal her brand new look.

 

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