Miss New York Nina Davuluri stunned many when she was crowned Miss America in Atlantic City Sunday night, making her the first winner of Indian descent. Of course, South Asian Twitter was quick to congratulate Davuluri for her big win (we trust you can find those racist tweets yourselves). Here are the ten things you need to know about the new Miss America.
1. She boldly predicted her win in her official bio.
In a video posted to the Miss New York homepage, Davuluri looks straight into the camera and says, “I’m on a mission. Miss America has always been the girl next door. But Miss America is evolving. And she’s not going to look the same anymore.”
2. She fully recognizes the historic nature of her win.
Moments before being crowned the winner, Davuluri paid tribute to the fact that two Asian Americans were the last two standing. “We’re both so proud. We’re making history right here, standing here as Asian Americans,” she told host Lara Spencer, referring to herself and runner-up Miss California Crystal Lee. “As you should be,” replied Spencer.
3. She’s a classically trained dancer.
According to her official bio, Davuluri regularly traveled to the southern Indian city of Vijayawada to study both Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dance. “Every other summer my family would travel to India for a couple of months, and while we were there we took lessons nearly every day with a dance master,” she told Syracuse.com.
4. Her “Bollywood Fusion” dance routine was choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance’s Nakul Dev Mahajan.
The artistic director was the creative force behind Katee Sheen and Joshua Allen’s routine, also to Dhoom Taana, in 2008. In its live blog, The South Jersey Times described the performance as “a fun dance with plenty of energy.”
5. She won despite missing her cue.
Host Lara Spencer had to repeatedly say “Miss New York!…. Miss New York!” before Davuluri finally took the stage before her Bollywood routine. It’s unclear if this was caused by a bout of nervousness or because it was simply too loud inside the theater.
6. Surprise! She’s pre-med.
Davuluri graduated from the University of Michigan last year with a degree in Brain Behavior and Cognitive Science. She says she’s planning to apply to medical school soon.
7. She self-identifies as a nerd.
“I love Star Wars, Star Trek and anything sci-fi,” she said in the aforementioned biographical video.
8. She’s a recovering bulimic.
The newly crowed beauty queen has spoken openly about her struggles with weight, body image and bulimia in the past.
9. Unlike most of her peers, she’s student debt-free.
Davuluri says a combination of parental assistance and $25,000 in pageant scholarship money funded her undergraduate degree.
10. She’s now the second-most famous former Miss Syracuse.
Exactly 30 years ago, actress and singer Vanessa Williams (and fellow former Miss Syracuse) was crowned Miss America. Williams’ win was also historic, as she was the first African American Miss America.
Lakshmi Gandhi is a co-founder and editor of The Aerogram. Follow her on Twitter at @LakshmiGandhi or email her at editors@theaerogram.com. Find The Aerogram on Twitter at @theaerogram.
Incredibly exciting that she is the first Indian-American Miss America, but it doesn’t mean she represents the working or middle-class South Asian. She is debt-free “with parental assistance and a $25,000 scholarship.” The scholarship is one year of tuition at Michigan and she started in 2007 — so… that’s quite a bit of parental assistance, you know? Not all South Asians are lucky to have that kind of economic privilege to graduate debt-free.
must be great to have the parents paying for everything
Bitter, much? I came from a working-class family and THEREFORE I qualified for a lot of federal and state financial aid. Whatever was left, my parents scrimped and saved so that I could be debt free the summer after I graduated. Unless you know the whole story, I say put a sock in it.
you don’t know the whole story either, put a sock in it.
Sure, and not all South Asian-Americans are lucky enough to be 5’7 or taller. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more South Asian-American women who graduate college without debt from tuition than there are SA-A women who are as tall as Davuluri. Certainly there’s more cultural impetus to ensure your daughters get a good education than to get them growth hormone. And I bet her being of a more “beautiful” (because more typical of Caucasian women) height had more to do with her beauty contest successes than her college debt status. So what?
All the telugu’s , she being a telugu, as well as Indians,support their kids financially till they die.That is the norm everywhere we go . 🙂
It seems to be pretty common among many Asian immigrant professionals. Amy Chua talked about this in her Tiger Mom book, contrasting her parents who went without new clothes in order to fill her college fund, with her white husband’s parents who were wealthier but figured it would be fine for him to pay part of his own way.
I was just glad that the winner wasn’t another damn blonde!
“I don’t see a lot of darker Indians in Bollywood, in movies, so that is something I noticed,” Gandhi said.
Really? You should be ashamed. It’s because of people like you, Racism runs deep inside India. Forget outside.
I was a bit disappointed the entire quote didn’t make it in the article- I am a darker skinned Indian. Like Nina Davuluri’s, my parents are South Indian and I meant to convey that it was great to see a South Indian in a role like that because that doesn’t always happen in Bollywood so people don’t see diversity within South Asians. (Which is why I noticed it.)
Very well said! There’s hell lot of racial discrimination happening amongst North & South Indians which sometimes makes one feel that the actual White’s and Black’s are far more civilized showing no racial differentiation from whom the shameful Indians must learn and restore their lost spiritual perspective.