The Punjabi kudi Karuna Singh, who gathered the courage to participate at the national contest of VLCC Femina Miss India 2020, plans to use this platform to be an inspiration to many girls who have been defined only by their color. Being a victim of discrimination from a very young age, Karuna considered it her fault for being dark. However, her experience over the years taught her that "beauty is about embracing yourself and feeling confident in your own skin".
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I graduated from University of California, Irvine with a degree in business economics and worked at a real estate firm for a year in Los Angeles. I was always penchant towards the entertainment industry which led me to take acting courses at New York Film Academy and Lee Strasberg.
2. How did you become a model and reached to this stage?
It all began when I was in 11th Grade. My mom saw an ad in the newspaper for Gladrags Little Miss India. After winning Gladrags Little Miss India, I won Gladrags Mega model in 2016. I always loved partaking in pageants and being on stage.
3. How did you feel being in and winning Miss India Punjab 2020 and then contesting in Miss India 2020?
I was elated. I had always wanted to participate in Miss India. My goal is to make content that has a positive impact on the society and participating in pageants helps you voice your opinions so it was a milestone in my journey.
4. What is your opinion of body image created by the media and how hard is it to put up with it?
Body image issues have taken over the younger generations. I’m always taken aback when I watch videos of 12 or 13 year old girls post pictures with a full face of makeup. This was never the case before social media was so popular.
Body image issues have taken over the younger generations. I’m always taken aback when I watch videos of 12 or 13 year old girls post pictures with a full face of makeup. This was never the case before social media was so popular.
The younger generations need to work on individualization and introspection rather than blindly following trends or looking up to the so called influencers.
5. How important is social media validation in your profession?
Even though social media validation is quite important, I think one should work on building their character rather than simply building a social media presence. If a person is raw and real, they are more likely to get a better following anyway.
6. How can one take care of their mental health in this high pressure glamorous field?
It’s important to stop comparing your progress with others. Since we only see other people’s lives on social media, it is hard to overlook how fancy everything on their feed looks. We forget that people only showcase the best parts of their lives and we never know how happy or sad somebody is beyond their social media feeds.
7. What are some of your upcoming projects?
I’m working on content creation and have a couple of projects coming up.
5. How important is social media validation in your profession?
Even though social media validation is quite important, I think one should work on building their character rather than simply building a social media presence. If a person is raw and real, they are more likely to get a better following anyway.
6. How can one take care of their mental health in this high pressure glamorous field?
It’s important to stop comparing your progress with others. Since we only see other people’s lives on social media, it is hard to overlook how fancy everything on their feed looks. We forget that people only showcase the best parts of their lives and we never know how happy or sad somebody is beyond their social media feeds.
7. What are some of your upcoming projects?
I’m working on content creation and have a couple of projects coming up.
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Instagram: karuna.singh12
Interviewed by Tanisha Acharya
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