Krishna Shukla: First Indian Finalist in the Miss Grand International Australia

By Reinaa Shukla

Miss Grand International Australia is one of the fastest growing Australian Beauty Pageants. Miss Grand International (MGI) has now become one of the world’s leading international beauty pageants and one of the 5 Grand Slam Beauty Pageants along with Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Supranational.

Australian beauties are quickly catching up with the world beauties and showing off that they are not just beautiful faces, they have a smart brain and a compassionate heart to go with it, so even though our beauties have entered late in the pageant industry they have the might to conquer it; For Australia its time to rejoice!!!  For Australian Indians it’s a double whammy. Krishna Shukla an Indian origin Australian is among the finalists for the first time!!!  Krishna, a National finalist from the state of NSW is one of the 25 girls selected from the hundreds that auditioned across Australia. And with your support she can grab not only the national title but has a lot of potential to get the International one too.

Krishna as fondly also known as “kiki” to her friends, did her schooling from Brisbane Macgregor Primary in eight-mile plains and then High school from Mansfield. Currently, she studies Finance, Economics, and Political Science at the prestigious ANU University Canberra and is a bright student.

Krishna’s parents migrated to Australia when she was 8years old, and since then she has been an Australian babe, playing netball for her school at the state level and was a champion in debate and brought in many medals for her school and herself.

Krishna is also a trained Kathak dancer and choreographer. She has performed Kathak at her schools and community cultural events both in India and Australia. Her learning started at the age of five with exceptionally accomplished gurus like Eshira Parikh, Namita Debroy, Yogini Gandhi. All had one thing common to say about her, “Krishna; ‘she is the most hardworking girl and lovely student to have around.” At present she also teaches dance on her campus at the university, as she mentioned in an interview that, “she cannot live without dancing. It connects her soul to universe. ”

As Krishna’s parents shuttled between India and Australia due to work, she has studied in 10 schools until now, whoa!! What adaptability!! When she was in India for a few years, she studied at Symbiosis International and Indus International School. She got involved in community work that included teaching the underprivileged children, under “Teach India,” working for “PETA,” as a proofreader and advocating for women’s rights for proper sanitization facilities at schools for girls.

When inquired about her empathetic nature to her mother, her mother mentioned one incidence, when Krishna was about seven years old, and she had fought with a grown-up man who was trying to catch a snake and educated him on why he should not cage the animals, that Krishna was always aware and righteously empathetic.

This empathetic soul discovered her outside beauty when she became the Mirchi Queen Finalist in Pune in 2016 and was among the top 7 finalists (for this had to beat 500 candidates ) and was featured in Mirchi calendar of the year 2017, she sometimes model when she gets time from her studies and the community work that she does in Australia , but  in past she has been a model with the Times of India Mirror , Jewellery  and  dress designers.

Currently, she holds the position of Secretary of the Indian Australian Association of Canberra for 2017-2018 where she works to organize events that improve and bring together the Australian and Indian community of Canberra over family-friendly events that spread cultural awareness. She is also the Secretary of Ekta; Australian National University’s largest multicultural South Asian Group where she holds events, movie screening and celebrate festivals to encourage appreciation of South Asian countries and improve awareness and highlight Australian multiculturalism along with her team.

When I met her, I just asked her how do you manage to do all that? , modest, gracious and a bit shy and overwhelmed by all the praise, she candidly replies, “I keep doing and keep thanking God for making me capable enough of doing it.”

Sure this beauty will go a long way with gratitude and grace!

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