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Dr Neha Singh
Mrs India 2020
Show Director – Opera Media and Recreations Australia
Jury Member, Choreographer and Catwalk Trainer
We live in a time when aspirations run wild. Women in India are learning to grasp the concept of dreams. Every girl with ambition is either a result of what she is shown and given, or what she is not. For some, being able to fulfil personal hurdles may open avenues that are a step towards their best selves.
Neha Singh of Ghaziabad, a simple girl, pursuing her medical career in physiotherapy, had aspirations she thought would remain dreams. Her marriage to Girish Kumar was a match made in heaven where her husband not only respected her dream to pursue a modelling career but encouraged her for it. Neha would brush it off, and more so after having her son, she had buried that dream. Girish hadn’t.
Post-partum is a sensitive and personal time for women and if not sensitively handled, can determine the future of a woman. Neha, with the support of Girish and their family, decided to, finally, try her hand at fulfilling her dreams. “I was a whopping 78kgs and even though this was an uphill battle, I knew I owed it to myself, to Girish and my future, I worked hard to lose weight.”, says Neha. She ended up losing 31 kgs and when she felt she was at her goal weight, they decided to have Neha participate in Mrs India – a pageant held for married women in Jharkhand and “I won it! I couldn’t believe I could! What had started as a step toward my passion had materialized so beautifully.” claims the pageant winner, gleefully.
It shows when a woman and her aspirations are supported, and her achievements celebrated. Neha is all praise for her family, “I could not have done it without the help of my loving husband and my family. To believe in me, to help me be that person that I wanted to be and to even take my place at home, Girish is my mentor and best friend.”
Neha has immense focus and gratitude for her journey. She only hopes and wishes for women to experience and dream beyond her dream. “I want women to experience the joy fulfilment of their dreams can bring. They should be encouraged to aim higher, to learn to get better, to do something for themselves and it does not matter when just do it!” she gleams. Neha’s pageant was amidst the pandemic and to this, she refers to as a “silver lining to any cloud. The pandemic gave us a chance to work on things we have left on the backburner. Now is the time to work on it.”
The physiotherapist-turned-beauty-queen believes in encouraging women to follow their pageant or modelling dreams. This led her to become a show director, trainer and pageant coach with Opera Media and Recreations. She is regularly training young girls and wives the ABCs of pageantry and is an inspiration to them. “You pass on your learnings (and your crown) to those like you so that the flow of motivation continues.”
The young mother has adapted to being a role model and uses her position to make substantial changes in others’ lives as well. During the pandemic, Neha, along with her team had set up food drives in Ghaziabad to feed COVID patients and their families. “I know the importance of having a strong support system, and with this initiative, we fed the families of those affected by the virus.”
Neha and her family are endlessly working to make a difference in her life and that of the others so that a girl can dream, work and fulfil it.
Neha Singh
Interviewed and transcrbed by Maryam Syed