Beauty pageants are no longer about beauty/handsomeness, body stats and height alone. Communication and intelligence, as well as outer and inner grooming are equally important for aspiring young girls and boys to make a mark in the glamorous world of beauty pageants and modelling.

These are the views expressed by former top 10 finalist of Pantaloon Femina Miss India 2011 pageant, noted model and grooming expert Aprajita Sharma, who is set to launch a truly professional grooming academy by the name Be You By Aprajita in Chandigarh tricity later in the year.

Photos By: Life In Chandigarh & Aprajita Sharma’s Social Media Accounts

Interacting exclusively with your own news website LifeInChandigarh.com, Chandigarh’s very own Aprajita, who has been organising online and offline grooming workshops and 4-5 day boot camps in association with luxury hotels since the pandemic, said Be You By Aprajita would be a first of its kind truly professional grooming school in the region, which will scout for talent both among males and females, unmarried and married, and groom them for the road ahead through a multi-disciplinary approach.

In the run-up to the launch of the academy, Aprajita, who has worked as a model with some of the top designers/labels like JJ Valaya, Vikram Phadnis, Gaurav Gupta, Varun Bahl, Satya Paul, Masaba Gupta, Anju Modi, Samant Chauhan, Shantanu & Nikhil, Tarun Tahiliani, Falguni Shane Peacock India and many more, would, in the coming months, announce a Miss Tricity and Mrs Tricity pageant to scout for talent, which will then be enrolled in the academy for multi-disciplinary training and grooming.

Male aspirants will be enrolled in the academy subsequently.

“I have felt that there is a dire need for such an academy in the Chandigarh tricity because not every aspiring male or female can avail of such professional training and grooming schools in the metro cities. There are huge additional costs involved and then there are also lingering concerns of safety and security, especially among females. Also, not many parents are comfortable with the idea of letting their girls venture out to far from home for training, because of concerns of being exploited,” she shared.

Commenting on the continuing hesitancy on the part of parents to let their girls venture into this glamorous world in the first instance, Aprajita, who was accompanied in the media interaction by her mother, said “Families need to support their children to live their dreams. See, there are pitfalls in any profession. There are all kinds of people at every workplace.  Parents ought to be open-minded in their approach and believe in their children that they will be able to handle the circumstances as they come.”

Talking about pressures of first, females finding their feet in the glamour world, and then to handle whatever fame comes with success, Aprajita was of the view that it depends on what kind of people are around you. Whatever the circumstances, one must always ensure that there are people around you, friends and family, who are in a position to check you in every seemingly lucrative move which has the potential of landing you in trouble. Even after tasting success, one needs to maintain humility and stay grounded. Here again, this circle around you has a role to play, she added.

Gesturing to her mother sitting nearby, she said “my mom is my biggest support. She’s there for me always, but she is also my biggest critic. That’s the kind of support you need so as not to lose your head and to sustain your existence in this glamorous field.”

Returning to the importance of grooming for success in beauty pageants and catwalks, as also acting and generally in the corporate world, Aprajita opined that grooming is all about enabling a person to give full expression to his or her potential.

Giving the example of Harnaz Kaur Sandhu, crowned Miss Universe 2021 in the pageant held in Israel, she said it was not that she tasted success immediately. She floundered in a pageant in which I was one of the judges, not because of lack of potential, but because she could not fulfil her potential. Grooming helps you do that, she emphasised.

So, what does it take to succeed in the world of pageants?

Aprajita listed out some of the key factors which play an important role in a success story – overall personality and fitness, passion, motivation and consistent dedication, confidence, good communication skills and ability to express oneself. All these aspects are taken care of in professional grooming sessions, apart from the finer nuances like voice modulation, walk style, dress sense, etiquette, etc., she explained.

Elaborating on the process of grooming, she said there are several subject experts involved apart from the one pageant mentor for the overall personality development of an individual. Depending on requirements of individuals, the team may include fitness experts, motivational experts, communication experts, actors, directors, and many more.

According to Aprajita, the overall idea of starting a much needed truly professional grooming academy in Chandigarh tricity is that the potential of the talent, available in abundance in these parts, should not go unrealised for lack of grooming, exposure and work.

Sharing her experiences thus far in the several workshops and boot camps she has held, Aprajita said the biggest challenge is of getting aspirants to first unlearn whatever misconceptions or myths they might have, and then start to learn the professional nuances of the field afresh. “The problem starts when these aspirants come with a ‘know all, done it all’ attitude and are extremely resistant to being tutored.”

Aprajita claimed that in opening this grooming academy, her main motivation is not to make money. “Having been through the journey myself all of these 12 years since finishing among the top 10 finalists in the Miss India pageant, I now want to share my experience and expertise with other talented persons in this region and help them shine in this creative as well as individualistic field.”

Apart from finishing among the top ten finalists in the Pantaloon Femina Miss India 2011 pageant, Aprajita Sharma was among the runners up in the Asian Super Model 2015 pageant held in China, where she also bagged the Miss Congeniality Award. She has also won the titles of Miss Beautiful Hair, Miss Vivacious Beauty, Miss Stylish Diva & Miss Beautiful Body in various other pageants.

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