50 Most Beautiful: Where are they now?

It’s been a whirlwind year for Max Engling, the former model named No. 1 on The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful list last year.

Since taking the top spot, new modeling opportunities for Engling have popped up.

{mosads}He’s been photographed in GQ as part of the magazine’s Capitol Hill style project.

He’s also been featured in Refinery 29’s 30 under 30 list, Washington Life’s Under 40 list and

Washingtonian’s great hair issue.

“It’s been a very fun year,” he told The Hill recently over a cup of coffee.

A new 5O Most Beautiful list will be released next week, and to mark the feature’s 10th anniversary, The Hill has been looking back at notable honorees.

Engling is still working at the House Administration Committee but has taken a new position with the professional oversight staff.

“It’s been challenging, but it’s really fun to learn new responsibilities and tasks,” he said. 

The 26-year-old hasn’t changed much since last year’s photo shoot. He’s kept his beard even in the heat of the D.C. summer.

It doesn’t bother him “as long as I keep it short,” he said.

Engling has the following advice for those who make this year’s list: “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“It opens you up to some good publicity and good opportunities, so take advantage of those opportunities because they will come,” said Engling, who remains shy and modest despite the attention he’s received over the past year. “Otherwise just enjoy it. It’s fun.”

The Hill caught up with some other past honorees to find out what they are up to now and get their advice for this year’s crop of beauties.

Kevin Madden

Kevin Madden clocked in at No. 2 on The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful list in 2006.

At the time, he was the spokesman for then-House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who was also on that year’s list.

Now, he’s better known for his connection to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Madden was spokesman for Romney’s 2004 presidential campaign and served as an adviser to the former Massachusetts governor’s 2008 bid. People joke that Madden’s dark-haired good looks could get him mistaken for one of Romney’s sons.

After the presidential campaign, he returned to JDA Frontline and joined CNN as a political commentator.

The profile that ran with his picture in 2006 noted he was about to be a father for the first time (he now has three boys) and compared him to John F. Kennedy Jr.

Madden could easily make the list again — if The Hill allowed people on more than once.

Madden didn’t return a request for comment about this article, but in 2007 told The Washington Post that being on the list brought “snarky emails from my friends.”

“Finally, I just had to laugh at it like everyone else. It was the Capitol Hill equivalent of sitting in a dunk tank for a year.”

Kate Michael

Kate Michael will always have one claim to fame: In 2005, she was the No. 1 on The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful list to then-Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) No. 2.

“The fun part was I got to beat the president,” she told The Hill.

Michael now runs K Street Magazine and works for two modeling agencies.

Michael remembers the notoriety that came with being the top beauty. She said her Capitol Hill office had a glass door and “it was as if I was working in a fishbowl,” adding that people “just stood outside and looked in.”

“We had to have the door frosted.”

Megyn Kelly

Megyn Kelly was known as Megyn Kendall in 2006, when she made The Hill’s list.

At the time, she was a Supreme Court reporter at Fox News. Now she’s a Fox news anchor and one of the cable network’s best-known personalities, having anchored its daytime program “America Live” since February 2010.

Kelly is on maternity leave with her third child, but when she returns to the air, she will be on Fox News prime time.

Jenna Gibson 

Jenna Gibson was No. 4 on The Hill’s list in 2011.

At the time she was a producer for Fox News. She’s now a producer for “CBS This Morning,” a job that has kept her in Washington and keeps her popping up on Capitol Hill.

“It’s actually a lot of fun,” she says of her new gig, “other than getting up early.”

Morning show staffers have notoriously early hours. Gibson says she’s up on some days at 4:45 a.m. If she’s lucky, can sleep in until 6:30 a.m.

Gibson’s main responsibilities are booking guests and pitching stories. She was also on the road this past election cycle, going to the conventions and presidential debates.

“I love it,” she told The Hill. “It’s a great team of people. I can’t say enough good things about it.”

Her advice to this year’s honorees is to enjoy their time in the spotlight.

She joked that she didn’t even realize she had made the list in 2011 until she checked her email that morning.

“I started to get emails that morning saying ‘congratulations,’ and it took me a minute to realize what they were talking about.”

Amy Cheng

Amy Cheng was No 1. on The 50 Most Beautiful list in 2011.

The Senate staffer is still working for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) although she’s taken on more responsibility in the office.

In her profile, Cheng said she had started couponing and hoped to lower her grocery bill by $30 a month.

“I’m still couponing,” she told The Hill. “Although I haven’t made it to $30 yet.”

The grounded beauty had some practical advice for this year’s honorees.

“First, be thankful and humble,” she said. “Second, you will get positive and negative comments. Some of those negative comments may stem from social media, blogs or other people. I would advise the people on the list not to take those comments to heart or let others define your beauty. Also, remember that your self-worth and value is not found in how people may or may not perceive you to be.  So, discover your beauty through your character, virtue and passion.”