Meet Miss India winner, Sini Shetty, who belongs to family of freedom fighters, to represent India in Miss World 2023

India is hosting the 71st edition of Miss World in this year. After 27 years, the famous international beauty pageant is returning to the country. Sini Shetty, Miss India 2022 winner is all set to represent India in Miss World 2023. 

In an exclusive chat with DNA India, Sini Shetty talked about her family, and her preparations for Miss World 2023 and revealed that she belongs to the lineage of family where one of her grandfathers was a freedom fighter and the other one belongs to a royal family. Here’s all you need to know about her journey to Miss World 2023.

Talking about her Journey and her family and education, Sini Shetty said, “I started my life with 20 years of being the best teacher of my life. When it comes to my academics, I was pursuing accounts and finance and I am currently pursuing CFA. Talking about my family, I come from a very humble background. We are a family of 6. I have my grandmother who is my biggest inspiration to do better in life. My parents hail from a small town in Mangalore and they shifted to Bombay, the city of dreams, and ventured into the hospitality industry. I think they are the perfect proof of How hard work best fruit and my brother, I have a love-hate relationship. He is an engineer in California and someone that I look up to who has motivated me and inspired me throughout. And a sweet little girl named Vasanti, who is my house help but someone who knows me better than I do and someone who has been longer with my family than I have been. I just looking forward to making the entire country proud.” 

She further revealed that she had a keen interest in Marketing and also worked in a marketing organisation and said, “I had a keen interest in marketing which is why I started interning in a Youth marketing organisation called Viral Fision. Which holds the strength of approximately 40000 students now and I was the product executive there. My main job was to bridge the gap between the students and the brand and to introduce them to the world of internships.” She added, “I have also been a dancer for the longest time and have been dancing since the age of 4. I have been a professional Bharatnatyam dancer and dance has always been my passion.”

Sini Shetty further talked about the difficulties she faced in her journey and said, “I don’t treat any obstacle as a challenge because they help you make a better person. Maybe we can say the difficulties I have faced. The transition from a 9-5 job to entering an industry where you have to represent yourself everywhere, was a little difficult because I come from a conservative family, I had a working background, suddenly leaving that life behind and moving forward, which is the best experience that had ever happened to me. The transition was a little difficult but I don’t think that was a challenge for me.”

She revealed what made her leave her well-paying job to enter the world of beauty pageants and said, “I come from a family which has a great heritage. My great grandfathers, one was a freedom fighter, and the other belonged to a royal family, so there is always a commitment to serve beyond self. I was kind of stuck in a loop where I was just working for myself day and night and there was only self-growth I knew that I had it in me to serve beyond myself and give it back to the community. That smile on not only my face but everyone out there, I think that is what made me transition from a 9 to 5 job. And I think Miss India and Miss World platform were blessing in disguise.”

Sini Shetty has been dancing since the age of 4 and is also a professional Bharatnatyam dancer. Not only this, she was also a dance tutor for a brief period of time during COVID-19, and sharing her experience, she said, “For a brief period of time, I was a dance tutor. It was during Covid when people were dancing, trying to release stress because you know are confided in one place, you are trying to find passion and I know cooking was a passion for people in Covid. I still remember there was a dance video of mine that got around 20 million views and that was the turning point of my life. It made me realize that people not only like my style but also want to learn my style, so after working on weekdays, and on weekends I took small workshops for everyone, offline and online and I have to agree, that was the most fulfilling jobs I have ever done in my life.”

When asked about one unknown fact about her, Sini said, “There is this one interesting fact about me that I come from a lineage of family where one belongs to a freedom fighter and one of my great grandfathers belongs to a royal family. So there is always a sense of commitment and discipline. This is something that has inspired me and taken me out of my comfort zone to do better in life.”

Sini is now all set to represent the country in Miss World 2023 and talking about her preparations she said, “The entire prep to the road of Miss World has been exciting. Today If I look 2 years back, I was a different personality and today I am someone who is experienced and exposed to the world. So I think the journey taught me a lot. Also, the fact that Miss World is happening in India after 27 years, I am really proud and fortunate to get an opportunity to represent my country in our own homeland. So the prep has been amazing, there is a lot to learn when it comes to communication because, at the end of the day, you are representing 1.4 billion of the population. So there is communication, there is walk and talk and there is also pressure about introducing India in the best way possible because India is a diverse country at the end of the day. There is so much to talk about and time is always less. I think my life would go pass by and I still would be talking about India’s greatness.” 

Sini further revealed the one thing she would like Miss World 2023 contestants to know about India and said, “Every state in India, it is a different experience, there is a new architecture, there is a new food, there is new people, there is a new language. So the diverse culture that India is a living monument and in every state you enter, you get a new experience of people in India, yet they live in unity, is something that I would love to show my girls who will come to India for the Miss World competition.”

Sini Shetty talked about her organisation which helps the students to get placements and improve their social and soft skills. She said, “So When it comes to beauty with the purpose project, the project is called Aashayien which means a ray of hope. We work mainly for upskilling and social skills for the students. The idea came across when I looked at the statistics. There are 70% of children who are getting an education in India and only 40% are employed and there is a big gap between them. So what is the reason for this gap? The reason was soft skills and public speaking, so my entire campaign drives to educate people not only on the syllabus but also on the practical knowledge they can get. I come from a family that my parents blessed me with the best education, food, and shelter and I can only feel gratitude for it. I would want that feeling for every child across India and employment and education are two steps towards solving any problem in India or across the world I think, this project Aashayien has brought me and my purpose to light only because of the platform I am given by Miss India and Miss World.”

Sini shared a piece of advice for the girls who wish to walk the same path as hers but are still hesitant and said, “The best reflection of work is the mirror. Today you stand in front of the mirror and say, I can and I will, anything is possible in the world. I am standing here with the ambition to do better in life not only for myself but for others. Nothing is impossible if you repeat the words I do and I can.”