For 23-year-old Indian-origin student Mehak Chandel, who is in the running to be crowned Miss England 2024, the challenges she faced in tackling acne have motivated her to promote inclusivity for all skin types in the field of modelling.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Southall-born Mehak, who holds a degree in criminology and plans to pursue a Masters in psychology, said despite many perceptions about how beauty pageants are difficult she has found them to be rather manageable.
"I think with this pageant there's not been that many challenges. It was lovely. So I applied last July and they fast-tracked me to the semi-final immediately. I was a wild card. The only setback was there were a few delays in the semi-finals happening."
"It kept getting changed back and forth. But otherwise, I think it was a pretty fun and easy process to go through," shared Chandel.
However, she also faced challenges because of her acne problem and that motivated her to promote inclusivity for modelling in all skin types.
While talking about it, she said, "I've always been someone who's struggled with acne since I was young. Whether it's print modelling or fashion pageants, etc, I never try to hide it. I think it's better to celebrate it."
She said that even in the judges' round during the semi-finals, she made it very clear and she thinks that's what led them to choose her because she explained that she wants people not to be ashamed of this stuff.
"I want it to become a more normal thing because when we see models, we see these perfect women with like perfect skin everything and I think it is changing now and I want to be a part of that change. I want to promote that self-love, self-acceptance as well," she added.
Mehak remembers the difficulties she had since people are accustomed to seeing pristine skin and bodies. She believes that this should be changed.
She continued, "This a major problem in these beauty pageants, events or kind of competitions. In this specific pageant, I haven't had that much of a problem, but I've had problems in modelling in general. Some people don't want to shoot with me, and they're like, 'Oh, you have spots'. And I'm like, yes, 'I do'. I can't change it. I would say overall in modelling there is an issue and it needs to change."
Miss England 2024 will take place in Wolverhampton, England on May 16 and 17.
Mehak has roots in India with her father hailing from Shimla and her mother being a Punjabi. She is putting all her efforts into making them and the entire nation proud.
She shared, "I've been modelling for quite a few years already, doing normal commercial shoots, fashion shoots etc. and I saw there was another pageant which one of my friends entered and she got a lot of recognition for it and she was the only Indian doing it. Then I saw in 2019 an Indian won Miss England and I think that's what inspired me to do it, seeing how both cultures kind of came together."
"It seemed like a nice thing to do and all the girls were really lovely as well when I was thinking about applying, speaking to people who've done it. So I decided just to go for it," added Chandel.
Apart from modelling, she also works for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). She is currently focusing on her Miss England 2024 competition. However, she has other aspirations beyond this Miss England competition.
As she mentioned, "I just finished my criminology undergraduate last year. Next year I'm going to go into a Masters in psychology. So I want to go forward and I want to go into psychology, become a psychologist."
