By Emily Vetne

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Elyssa DiRaddo’s workday finishes like any other music therapist’s does: she shuts down her laptop, closes her guitar case, and puts on her tiara. That’s because she is not only a licensed music therapist and dedicated member of the Indianapolis Jewish community, but she’s recently been crowned Miss Heart of the Midwest, a platform that she was attracted to thanks to its similarities to both her professional views and Jewish beliefs. Established in 2018, the Miss Heart of the Midwest Scholarship Pageant is an official preliminary program to the Miss Indiana Scholarship Pageant.

When she moved to Indianapolis in July 2019 for a new job, DiRaddo knew she needed to find community. Of course that was made even trickier in just a few short months when COVID-19’s onset shut down in-person socializing, so she turned to Jewish groups online. That’s where she met Ben Mossler, who connected her to local Jewish groups like Moishe Pod, Young Jewish Professionals (YJP), and NEXTGen. 

“I felt like I was welcomed when I walked into my first MoPo event, even with being from out of state,” DiRaddo said. “They helped me connect with my Jewish roots.” 

DiRaddo had been raised in an interfaith family and had never gone to Jewish summer camp or connected with Hillel on her college campus, but the Indianapolis Jewish community swiftly became the Jewish home she’d been seeking.
DiRaddo practices her Jewish values daily at work, providing music therapy to people with autism and other disabilities. 

“My goal is to help people with disabilities be included however they want,” says DiRaddo, explaining how she uses her new platform as Miss Heart of the Midwest: “I want to help those who aren’t being listened to, and to say ‘here they are, here are their needs, how can we help them?”

Pageantry was a logical next step for DiRaddo, who grew up with friends and cousins involved in the pageant community. 

“The four values of my pageant organization are service, scholarship, style, and success, and I believe those are all core Jewish values and applicable to my career, as well,” she explained. 

What’s next for DiRaddo? She plans to get even more involved in the Jewish community—in fact, she’s recently joined NEXTGen as a committee member—and wants to work toward more Jewish inclusion and building an even tighter-knit community like in her hometown of Chicago. 

“I view the Jewish community as a home base for all Jews and want to see it continue to grow,” she said. 
DiRaddo competes for the title of Miss Indiana on June 18.