A SHORT STORY

Short women have always known that beauty is not measured by the inch, but now twenty-three-year-old Kathy Hartsell, a 5-foot-3-inch dusty blonde from Dallas, is spreading the news. Hartsell, a model for the locally based Kim Dawson Modeling Agency, won the Miss Petite United States title in November in New York City. More than 12,000 contestants, including 1,000 sister Texans, vied for the title.

Since the coronation, Hartsell has signed on with Ford Models, Inc. in New York and is looking for work in television commercials. Someday she hopes to make the crossover to the big screen. The contest started the ball rolling for Hartsell’s career, but, she says, it’s only the first step. “I thought that when I won the contest it would be easier and that people would come to me. Not true. You have to work just as hard or even harder to be noticed.”

The petite contest was sponsored by Macy’s, Petite Sophisticates, Petite Pleas ures, Leslie Faye Companies, J.H. Collectibles, and Richard Warren Petites. Dawson says she’s crossing her fingers that next year’s petite pageant will be in Dallas.