A Fishers teen is headed to the International Junior Miss pageant in Orlando, Fla., Thanksgiving week representing Indiana. Vani Sharma, a junior at Fishers High School, won the International Junior Miss Indiana Junior Teen title in September.
“Winning the IJM Indiana Jr. Teen title was an absolute dream come true. I loved just being there during pageant weekend, the positivity in the atmosphere and making new friends while reuniting with old ones,” Sharma said. “For me, the experience is not only immaculate, but I truly love what the organization stands for. International Junior Miss and the I AM Pageant Powerhouse is all about self-growth, achievement and awareness, and those are values I strive to live by each day.”
Sharma also took top honors in several optional competitions, such as Spokesmodel, Actress, and Top Model.
“For winning the title, I received an engraved plate award, rhinestone and pearl crown, satin sash, flowers, an opportunity to represent Indiana at internationals in November and the IJM Scholarship award,” she said. “Personally, I am so excited about getting to connect with girls across the globe and be able to do global service projects with them because pageantry is not only about self-growth, but also making a widespread impact on the lives of others.”
Now, Sharma is focused on the November event.
“Preparation is key to success. This has been my mantra since Day 1,” she said. “I have been preparing by practicing my routines, working on my skills, reaching out to as many people as I can to create impacts, and getting myself organized for Internationals.”
As a young girl, Sharma always loved fashion and recalls her first “modeling” encounter was a Barbie fashion show at an area museum. She started competing in pageants in 2016 after receiving a letter in the mail.
“I believe I was 9 when I did my first pageant, so I was in the Junior Pre-Teen division. After that year, I loved it so much that I came year after year, winning my first big title of Miss Indiana Pre-teen in 2018,” Sharma said. “I have seen myself moving from a phase of being a shy girl to a young speaker with a heart for service. Pageants have taught poise, presentation skills and building confidence and more importantly to believe in myself.”
Her pageant platform is E.A.S.E., which stands for educate, achieve, smile and empower.
“I actually started my volunteering journey as a kindergartener, after a family incident. The genuine kindness we received as a family is truly what brought us to giving back to others, with that same compassion,” Sharma said. “As young girl, I never knew what I was doing and how I was impacting others. However, growing up, I felt very thankful that my parents instilled those values of service in me, and I work to share it to others with my initiative.”
She does that through organizing community service events around Fishers, volunteering with organizations such as Changing Footprint, social media movements like the Happiness Challenge, serving meals and playing music at the Ronald McDonald House. Besides volunteering, Sharma enjoys speaking to students and sharing the importance of kindness.
“Being able to talk to those kids is so much fun. I go to those schools to empower, but I come out of those classrooms feeling inspired myself as well,” she said. “It is a truly humbling and rewarding experience and one of the best parts about running this initiative.”
Sharma is working on a project called the #SHEROMOVEMENT for girl’s empowerment. You can learn more about it on her Instagram pages: @ease_vani, @vani.sharma05, and @iam_ijmindianajrteen. For more information on her involvement in E.A.S.E., visit ease-vani.org.
