Shree Saini, the first Indian-American to win Miss World America 2021, has done it for the first time. She is the first Asian woman to be crowned champion. Shree was born in India and moved to Washington, DC when she was five years old with her family.
The 25-year-old is from Ludhiana, Punjab, and has encountered discrimination her entire life, including at school and in dance classes where she has been enrolled since she was a toddler.
Her mother, on the other hand, was her continuous supporter and urged her to carve out her own niche in this strange world.
She spoke at a news conference on how her parents supported her during difficult times and how she was constantly urged to choose resilience no matter what life threw at her.
Here are a few things you didn’t know about Shree’s journey so far:
- When she was 12 years of age she was diagnosed with a rare heart condition, which led to her heart beating only 20 times per minute (an average person’s heart beats 70 times per minute).
- She had to undergo open-heart surgery where a pacemaker was inserted to make sure that her heart functioned well.
- She was told that she would not be able to lead a normal life and was even asked to refrain from continuing her dance practise.
- However, this did not stop her interest in dance and she pursued her passion with renewed vigour.
- At 15, her mother fell ill and had to be put on life support. By this time, Shree had witnessed enough pain and decided on setting up an NGO to help people, like her, who were dealing with depression and other such ailments.
- Four years later, Shree met with a near fatal accident in which part of her face suffered partial burns and extensive bruising. While the doctors gave her one year of recovery time, she bounced back stronger in less than a month.
- Known to be a good orator, several of Shree’s speeches at college garnered applause from the audience.
- In 2017, she participated in Miss India-USA and won the title. In the preceding year, she also clinched the title of Miss World.
- Among her many accomplishments, her work has been recognised by UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, Breast Cancer Foundation — Susan G Komen, and many others.
She added in an interview with ABC7 that being Miss World was a childhood dream of hers, and she wants to inspire others to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.
Shree never gave up her desire to dream, despite being ridiculed and having to go through painful operations and an accident. At each stage of her life, she found a way to remake herself and move on. Her life choices were never determined by her problems; instead, it was her passion that propelled her to success.
"Shree, who is presently Miss World America Washington, also has the title of "MWA National Beauty with a Purpose Ambassador," which she achieved by working tirelessly to aid people who are less fortunate. Her effort has been acknowledged by UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, Susan G Komen, and many other organisations "Miss World America's official Instagram account remarked.
