The Gerber Company has announced the winner of their 13th annual Photo Search for the 2023 Gerber Baby. She’s 9-month-old Madison Mendoza of Colorado and the third Asian American to win the contest.
Nicknamed Maddie by her parents, Jun and Crystal Mendoza, Gerber reports she enjoys her baby music classes, swim lessons, family hikes and exploring new foods.
“Being a rainbow baby, Maddie has brought us immeasurable joy with every milestone, snuggle and moment spent with her enriching our lives and making every day more meaningful and beautiful,” said her mother. Rainbow baby is a term used to describe children born to parents who have previously lost a child.
Maddie will be featured in Gerbers’ 2023-4 advertising campaigns as their “spokesbaby.” The company says she will “work with Gerber to help the next generation of babies grow and thrive.” The Gerber baby also has a role as a taste-tester.
Maddie’s parents are both from first-generation Filipino American families who’ve been together since high school for 22 years. Jun Mendoza, her father, is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, and both of Maddie’s grandfathers are Navy veterans.
Her parents say they are happy to have her representing military children whose sacrifices often go unseen.
Along with being the 2023 Gerber Baby, Maddie won the titles of Chief Growing Officer and Chief Taste Tester, a new baby wardrobe, a year’s supply of Gerber products and $25,000. They matched that with a $25,000 donation to March of Dimes, repeating a donation made in 2022 in what might be a new tradition for the contest.
Gerber further donated $5,000 to Operation Homefront, a non-governmental organization that supports military families.
The photo search was launched in 2011 inspired by the many photographs sent to Gerber by parents who saw their own children in the original Gerbers logo, based on Ann Turner Cook (1926-2022). In 2016, the first Asian American won the contest, Isla Welch from Troy, Michigan.
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