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Open Chest Interview with Nina Davuluri
Reigning Miss America Nina Davuluri Conquers the American Dream!
I’ve experienced just about everything over the years, but holding press for a cover story switch-out at the eleventh hour is not one of them. Until this issue that is, when, on September 21st, 2013, Miss America crowned its first South Asian beauty queen, warranting a stop-the-press moment.
We all saw how New Yorker Nina Davuluri, the all-American Indian girl, shot from obscurity to overnight global recognition after Twitter exploded with negative backlash about her “right” to be crowned Miss America. She was labeled a non-American (even though she was born in the States), an Arab (even though she’s a Hindu by birth), and even a terrorist (even though she’s an honour roll student headed to medical school who loves to watch her favourite team, the Michigan Wolverines, play ball).
Needless to say, the press was understandably stopped and the A-list Bollywood cover personality was flipped out to make room for this new phenomena — a young girl no one, until recently, knew anything about, who had made history in more ways than one. I had an eye-opening, in-depth chat with this barrier-breaking beauty queen, just days after the win, where, amongst numerous other insights, she spoke candidly about following her heart to actualize her American dream, one which may never be repeated again in our lifetime.
CLICK HERE To Read the Full Interview with Nina
PUBLISHED IN THE FASHION ISSUE, FALL 2013
Raj Girn
Author
Raj Girn is an award-winning media personality, confidence coach, consultant and mentor. Bio: https://www.theopenchestconfidenceacademy.com/about/our-founder/ Testimonials: https://www.theopenchestconfidenceacademy.com/about/testimonials/
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