Miss Hooters gig is just a stop for her

When Michelle Nunes first walked into a Hooters restaurant, she knew she wanted to work there. Now, she’s the epitome of a Hooters Girl.

Nunes, a 23-year-old Burbank High School graduate, was crowned as Miss Hooters International 2006 in July after being selected from a pool of more than 120 Hooters Girls from around the world.

She took home the first-place prize of $50,000 in cash and plans on investing it.

She will represent the Florida-based Hooters of America Inc., the franchisor and operator of more than 430 Hooters restaurants.

“The first thing I said was, ‘Wow, I did it,’” Nunes said. “I was envisioning what it would be like to achieve this goal.”

But getting a chance to win the top prize in the Hooters competition didn’t happen overnight.

About four years ago, Nunes, then a student at San Diego State University, worked her way up after she got a job at a Hooters restaurant in San Diego.

“A couple of my roommates got a job at Hooters,” Nunes said. “As soon as I walked into the restaurant I wanted to work there.”

Within two years of working at the restaurant, Nunes posed for the Hooters calendar and appeared in commercials promoting the restaurant franchise.

Nunes, a liberal studies major, took time off from school in April to commit to a job as a blackjack dealer at Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas.

She will work in Las Vegas for about year and go back to school in the fall to finish her studies, she said.

“I wanted to make a name for myself,” Nunes said.

The opportunity to make an even bigger name for herself came when Nunes took part in this year’s Las Vegas Hooters regional pageant and won.

The regionals qualified her to participate in the international competition, where she took the grand prize.

“It was really a lifestyle change of eating healthy and working out,” Nunes said.

“I feel like her success definitely reflects her work ethic,” said Jennifer Loucks, promotions coordinator at Hooters Casino Hotel. “You can tell when she is preparing for a pageant how focused she is. We knew she was going to be successful because of how well she works.”

Nunes, who eventually plans to pursue a teaching career, said for now, she wants to try her hand at doing marketing and promotional work for Hooters.

“I see Michelle taking her career to that level,” Loucks said. “She can be successful with this launch pad.”