At the annual pageant held in New Jersey, Virginian teen Aarya Walvekar, an Indian American, was named Miss India USA 2022. The first, runner-up was the University of Virginia’s second-year premedical student Saumya Sharma. The second runner-up was Sanjana Chekuri of New Jersey. The longest-running Indian pageant outside of India celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. It was started by New York-based Indian-Americans Dharmatma and Neelam Saran under the banner of Worldwide Pageants.
Who is Aarya Walvekar?
Aarya Walvekar is an aspiring actress. “It has been my childhood dream to see myself on the silver screen and work in films and TV,” she said. She shared the pictures from the competition and captioned them, “Honored to be your Miss India DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) 2022.”
Aarya Walvekar is a senior at Briar Woods High School in Virginia. Moreover, the 18-year-old is an ardent supporter of the Body Positivity Health at Every Size Movement and mental health. She has developed several awareness initiatives and presented at a TEDx event on “Rethinking ‘Healthy’.” In addition, she established Euphoria Dance Studio, a small company that offers youngsters in the neighborhood reasonably priced dance instruction. Moreover, she also took part in local youth plays and participated in school and community theatre. Additionally, debating, cooking, and traveling are some of her interests.
“I am very much thankful to the Indian community around the world for their support over the years,” Dharmatma Saran, Founder, and Chairman of Worldwide Pageants said. There are three different pageants Miss India USA, Mrs. India USA, and Miss Teen India USA. These competitions involved as many as 74 competitors from 30 states. Moreover, the champions of all three categories are given free plane tickets to Mumbai early the following year. They can then compete in the same organization’s Worldwide Pageants.
