'Keep moving forward'
Mar. 6—While Becca Murray did not make into the final round of Inked Magazine's Cover Girl contest, she considers none of the time competing wasted.
"I can truthfully say that I don't consider a single vote, share, minute of effort put into this competition or dollar donated to be wasted," she posted on her Facebook on Friday. "I am so grateful and so glad that I opened myself up to this experience.
The lifelong Gloucester resident was one of 64 people competing in the semifinals of Inked Magazine's 2021 Cover Girl competition, which opened with 100,000 entrants on Jan. 19. At the end of semifinals on Thursday night, Murray was in eighth place.
Founded in 2004, Inked is a tattoo lifestyle digital media publication that has featured celebrities such as Avril Lavigne, Malin Akerman, Ozzy Osbourne, and Kid Cudi.
The entire competition is slated to conclude Thursday, March 11, at 11 p.m..
While many of the models in the competition had previous experience in the profession, Murray was able to accomplish a lot as a novice.
"I created my separate Instagram for the competition, teamed up with Jay (Mailo) and began actually preparing with only eight days until the competition began," she explained. "My first photo shoot took place two days before voting opened, and each subsequent shoot, photo release, post, and promotion was usually planned strategically, but often just fell together so perfectly on its own, like it was all meant to happen. And I truly think it was."
Up until the quarterfinals, Murray was sitting in first place in the Inked competition. She then dropped to seventh and finished in eighth place.
Murray has plans to continue modeling and transfer to a college where she intends to get her Bachelor of Science and eventually Master of Science in Criminal Justice.
"I am going to keep moving forward and keep moving up, that is for sure," she wrote. "You guys haven't seen the last of me."
Staff Writer Taylor Ann Bradford can be reached at 978-675-2705 or tbradford@gloucestertimes.com.
