I don’t see pageants as gateway to Bollywood: LIVA Miss Diva 2021 runner-up Sonal Kukreja

MUMBAI: LIVA Miss Diva 2021 runner-up Sonal Kukreja says she wants to use the pageant as a platform to enable financial independence in women across the country and not as a springboard to launch her Bollywood career.

Kukreja, who hails from Jaipur, was adjudged the first runner-up in the pageant earlier this month. The 23-year-old said though she would give acting a shot if an opportunity comes her way, it is not going to be her only priority as of now.

“Pageants give you a platform but I don’t necessarily see that as a gateway into Bollywood. Acting requires a whole different skill set than what you need in pageantry. “I’m someone who never wants to leave any rocks unturned so if an opportunity comes my way, I would love to explore it while continuing to work on my mission of providing financial independence and empowering women to create the life of their dreams,” Kukreja told PTI.

Kukreja was born in Delhi and moved to Jaipur at the age of 10. She later shifted to the USA, aged 17, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in marketing and digital media trends and analytics and worked in the field of marketing communications.

She is also the co-founder of a crypto financial institution and is currently working as the vice president of marketing and partnerships division at the start-up. To participate in the pageant, Kukreja said she had to balance her work and immerse herself in multitasking.

She recalled finishing emails and assigning tasks while getting her hair and makeup done early in the morning for the contest. “Being an entrepreneur in the FinTech industry, I never thought pageantry was for me. When the Miss Diva team reached out to me, I was surprised because, in my mind, I wasn’t the perfect-looking girl,” he said.

Neither did I have a background in modelling, nor did I want to be an actor. “Little did I know that pageantry is not just about beauty that catches the eye but it’s about empowering women to become the best version of themselves and inspire other women to embrace femininity, sisterhood, and individuality,” he said.