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"  \u00C2\u00A0 Miss USA modeled in the\u00C2\u00A0Carrie Hammer fashion show in New York as part of a cast of models who are also role models. (The cast also included Miss USA 2012\u00C2\u00A0Nana Meriwether, Emmy award winning producer\u00C2\u00A0Liz Layton, and CEO of Artsicle\u00C2\u00A0Alexis Tryon, to name a few.) She spoke to Cosmopolitan.com about why answering pageant questions is so hard and more. \u00A0 Cosmo: Was this your first fashion show you&amp;#039;ve ever walked in? NM: Yeah, it is! I&amp;#039;m usually watching the shows, but Carrie&amp;#039;s show is the first time I&amp;#039;ve ever walked in one. I was really neat to be a part of it. Cosmo: What was your favorite part of the whole experience? NM: My favorite part was mingling with the women here. They all come from different backgrounds, have different stories, and are so empowering \u2014 and the clothes are fabulous! Cosmo:\u00C2\u00A0Why is it so terifying to answer questions during a beauty pageant? NM:\u00C2\u00A0It is nerve-wracking because everything else during the show is rehearsed except for that moment. So, even if you would normally know the answer to whatever question they&amp;#039;re asking, all of the people, the lights, the pressure, and everything combined plays a part in why some girls sound stupid when they answer it. \u00C2\u00A0 Cosmo: You&amp;#039;re a beauty pageant winner and obviously gorgeous, but do you see yourself as sexy? NM: It&amp;#039;s really funny and clich\u00C3\u00A9, but my parents growing up raised me to be really humble and to give back, so I don&amp;#039;t pride myself on how I look, I pride myself on what I do. I&amp;#039;ve created the Meriwether Foundation and that is really where my passion is. It&amp;#039;s not about the external, which is ironic since I was Miss USA, and often people believe that who she is is about the external, but for me it&amp;#039;s about what&amp;#039;s inside. Cosmo: If you had any advice for the Cosmo girl, what would it be? NM: Hmm, I would give the advice to never compare yourself to someone else, because not everything is controllable. You can control who you are and you can build yourself up, but for example, when I was growing up I always wanted to be shorter, I&amp;#039;m six feet tall, and then one day it hit me that maybe being tall isn&amp;#039;t so bad, so I just used my height to my advantage and ended up playing volleyball for UCLA.  \u00C2\u00A0 Cosmo: How did you get this amazing hair? NM: Hairspray! [Laughs] I watch a lot of YouTube videos! I&amp;#039;ve had a lot of experience doing my own hair \u2014 a lot of people think that since I was Miss USA you wake up, you get your hair and makeup done, but really it&amp;#039;s not like that. You have to do your makeup and hair yourself a lot of the time and it has to look perfect because you&amp;#039;re doing press and making speeches. So there is a lot of practice. Photo credit: Getty Images/Carly Cardellino\u00C2\u00A0 RELATED ARTICLES: The 9 Most Humiliating Beauty Pageant Gaffes Ever The 2013 Miss Universe Evening Wear Competition Was On Point \u00C2\u00A0 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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