Among 28 women vying for the Miss World America 2020 title are six women of Indian-American roots.
America’s Miss World is the official national pageant that selects the contestant from the United States for entry to the Miss World pageant.
India's Manushi Chillar won the Miss World pageant in 2017.
Who Are the Contestants?
Serene Singh of Colorado
Serene Singh is a native Coloradan and a proud Sikh and South Asian American woman. A Rhodes Scholar, she is starting her Doctorate Degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Oxford.
Her bio notes that Singh cares deeply about empowering girls and women worldwide. As part of her work, she has founded her own organisation to help adolescent girls in Jharkhand, India fight for their education through virtual learning and fight for themselves through self-defence training.
Radhika Shah of Nevada
Radhika Shah will be attending Stanford University this fall as a Public Policy major. She has been featured on the front cover of MyVegas Magazine as one among the ‘Top 100 Women of Influence’.
Her contribution is particularly notable with respect to her founding of Real Autism Difference (RAD) to provide respite services for those with autism in the Southern Nevada Community and beyond. In just two years, she raised over $100,000 for RAD’s programs, according to her bio.
Manju Bangalore of Oregon
Manju Bangalore is a physicist, actor, and the founder of Operation Period, a youth-led non-profit addressing menstrual inequity through art, advocacy, education, community engagement, and aid.
She is currently pursuing her MS in aerospace engineering with a concentration on propulsion systems.
She has worked at two NASA centers, Marshall Space Flight Center and Johnson Space Center, on propulsion and the cockpit displays for the Orion spacecraft, as well as in the White House under President Obama on science policy.
Manya Saaraswat of Pennsylvania
Manya Saaraswat entered Bucknell University on a presidential fellowship which is the highest merit scholarship the university offers.
Currently, she is pursuing a Master of Science of Health Policy and Economics at Weill Cornell Medicine before she enters medical school so she can be an active agent of change within global paediatric health, as per her bio.
Shree Saini of Washington
Saini’s childhood dream to serve as Miss World inspired her to change her adversities to advocacy. Shree is a survivor of bullying, facial burns and heart defect.
Shree Saini is a joy-creator, servant leader, loyal friend and a global speaker who has been invited to speak in over 8 countries and 30 states. She graduated from UW and has been a visiting student at Harvard, Stanford and Yale Universities, reads her bio.
Mangala Chava of West Virginia
An aspiring physician, Chava is a recent graduate of biology from University of California, San Diego.
She says her two biggest goals in life would be to open a retirement home for elderly abuse victims as well as a holistic clinic that incorporates mind, body, and spirit in treatment.
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