Crowning Glory

Introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Soumya, and I’m originally from India. I’m a second year fine arts student at LASALLE. I’m also a pageant participant!

Wow! Tell us more about your pageant experience.
The pageant I’m part of is called Miss & Mrs ASEAN, and I’m a semi-finalist right now! It’s my first time doing a pageant, so I was quite nervous but also excited. This is something I’ve been wanting to do from a very young age.

All the best for that! How did your interest in pageants come about?
Pageants are something I’ve always wanted to do since I grew up watching Miss Universe and Miss World. I can cross that off my bucket list now! I got the opportunity to participate in this pageant when the senior director contacted me. She was the runner up of Mrs Earth Singapore 2023. I was like “sure, why not? I’ll try it!”

We’re glad you took that opportunity! Are there any models or pageant winners you look up to?
Probably Kendall Jenner. I want to be like her. I used to research and stalk models a lot (laughs). I used to watch Indian models opening runway shows like Versace, so I really wanted to become like them.

Besides participating in pageants, do you have any other interests?
I also play basketball. I’m actually a national basketball player in India! I played a lot of competitive matches back in high school. Now that I’m in university, I don’t have that much free time to play. I’m also a content creator on Instagram, and I like to dance.

That’s a diverse set of passions you have! Now that you’re in Singapore, what would you say is the biggest culture shock between India and Singapore?
It would be the food. I’m from a culture that follows a vegetarian diet, so we don’t eat foods with egg, beef, and meat in general, which is very hard to find here. Half the time I have to cook by myself because I don’t have that many options. I also can’t spend that much on vegetarian food outside since it’s more expensive here than non-vegetarian food. I do get pre-made packs from home, which is basically Indian food that has been dried out.

What are your hopes for your future career in pageants?
Right now, we have a lot of sponsors coming in for this pageant. We also got featured in the CNA938 Rewind podcast. I’m just hoping that I can get an opportunity from this pageant, at least something small that can become bigger!