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‘I’m a new woman!’

USPS employee receives ‘Today’ makeover

Liberty Road Station Manager Lori Marcum
Liberty Road Station Manager Lori Marcum returned to work in Lexington, KY, last week after receiving a makeover on TV.

A Kentucky Postal Service employee is starting the new year with a new look — courtesy of the “Today” show.

Lori Marcum, who manages Liberty Road Station in Lexington, and some family members were vacationing in New York City during the holidays when they joined the crowd that gathers each morning outside the NBC program’s studio.

Marcum and her relatives, who hail from Lovely, KY, were hoping to be chosen for the show’s “Ambush Makeover” segment. One cousin held a homemade sign that read, “Please send us back to Lovely looking lovely!”

It worked.

Marcum was chosen to receive a makeover, a whirlwind process that involved getting a haircut and color job while another stylist did her makeup.

Marcum — who recently lost 75 pounds, crediting her grandchildren as her inspiration — also tried on eight different outfits, continually going down in clothing sizes until she found one that fit.

Producers didn’t allow Marcum to see her new look until “Today” hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb brought her onto the set for the unveiling.

“My husband’s gonna die!” she said when Gifford and Kotb finally allowed her to look at herself in a mirror. “I’m a new woman!”

Since returning home last week, Marcum has been fielding congratulatory messages from her co-workers (“I feel like a superstar,” she said) and telling them about meeting Gifford (“very friendly”) and Kotb (“makes you feel like she has known you your whole life”).

She’s also been answering the one question that everyone has: What was her husband’s reaction when he saw her new look?

“He said, ‘Everyone gets to see what I already know … that you are beautiful.’”

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