Sitting in my yellow pyjamas and sipping morning Chai, I was wondering how time was flying. My commitment to my NGO Elysium Smiles and my passion to train kids as regional head of Helen o Grady was taking my entire day. Morning was the only ‘ME’ time and solace I had.
I was a nonstop talker and favourite amongst friends. When my friends coaxed me to participate in beauty pageants, I blushed. Coming from a traditional Sindhi community from desert state of India, Rajasthan, I had never imagined about participating in beauty pageants. I remembered, I was not even allowed to wear a sleeveless suit, leave aside national level competition on beauty and dressing.
‘Learn to listen carefully as opportunity knocks very softly', I had read this somewhere. Believing my gut, 3 years ago I had filled registration forms for 2 beauty pageants. Success in initial rounds made my family supportive and encouraging, taking my confidence to the next level. ‘Scared and optimistic’ , that was the feeling, that was my situation back then. There were few funny glitches too - I had never worn heels and my daily routine in my NGO and job was keeping me busy.
I decided to give it more than 100%. I knew I had to work on my body language, Ramp Walk, Art of answering questions, make up and stage presence. I joined 3 different Institutions to learn all this. 4 months of hard work and practice made me quite confident. I also ensured that I wore heels 10 hours a day, those were grilling days of 14 hours of work and practice.
With six months of hard work and perseverance, I faced a vast audience at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad, and won ‘Ms. India Popular Choice’ and another one in Powai, ‘Ms. Beautiful Earth’. Two back-to-back crowns opened lots of possibilities, I got flooded with many modelling offers.
Since then, I have walked the ramp many times in India and abroad. Many print shoots and a few designer shoots added charm to my profile before I decided to learn acting.
It has been 2 years since then. I worked in a few prime-time TV-shows aired on Star, Sony, Colours and have worked in webseries by Vikram Bhatt too.
As Leo Buscaglia once said “Change is the end result of all true learning”, wearing my high heels confidently, I have truly experienced it.
Today, I have my institute ‘Elysium Impressions Grooming Academy’ which trains young girls, women and kids. To add to my trajectory, I'm Brand Ambassador of global animal organisations and various fashion brands. My NGO ‘Elysium Smiles’ has supported education of more than 200 girls till date.
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