On Dec. 12, Harnaaz Sandhu was topped Miss Universe 2021. When host Steve Harvey requested the contestant to “meow,” he missed out on a chance to ask about her {many professional} accomplishments and volunteering experiences.
A brand new Miss Universe: The 21-year-old mannequin and actor, who hails from Chandigarh, India, is the primary winner from India in 21 years.
- Sandhu has gained a number of different titles previously few years, resembling Instances Recent Face Miss Chandigarh in 2017, Miss Max Rising Star India in 2018 and Femina Miss India Punjab in 2019.
- She has additionally acted in a number of Punjabi-language movies, together with “Yaara Diyan Poo Baran” and “Bai Ji Kuttange.”
- Sandhu names actress Priyanka Chopra as one in every of her major inspirations.
Humanitarian work: As a grasp’s scholar finding out public administration, Sandhu has labored to lift consciousness on points resembling ladies’s reproductive well being and childhood deformities.
- Sandhu’s mom is a gynecologist and girls’s rights activist in India. The mom and daughter duo work collectively at pop-up well being clinics to teach Indian ladies about reproductive and menstrual well being points, matters typically thought-about taboo in rural India.
- Sandhu and her mom additionally hosted a miniseries on Instagram titled “Hear It From Maa,” the place the pair mentioned matters resembling polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), menstrual hygiene and breast most cancers.
- The Miss Universe winner can also be an envoy for Smile Practice India, a nongovernmental group which offers free cleft lip surgical procedures for impoverished youngsters.
- In the course of the Miss Universe pageant, Sandhu additionally took the chance to debate local weather change. “That is the time to take motion and speak much less as a result of each motion of ours can both kill or save nature,” she declared.
A proud nation: Sandhu is the primary Sikh girl to win the Miss Universe pageant and the third winner from India.
- Earlier than Sandhu made her historic win this yr, Sushmita Sen was topped as Miss Universe in 1994, and Lara Dutta gained the identical title in 2000. Each ladies went on to turn into A-list Bollywood celebrities.
- India is tied with Mexico and South Africa for fifth place on the record of most Miss Universe wins, with every nation having three Miss Universe wins. The South Asian nation shares first place with Venezuela for Miss World, with six winners together with actors Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai.
Function Picture by way of Amir Levy/Getty
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