1) You are an accomplished, well-educated woman yourself. What made you think of launching a beauty pageant?

Ans: I have been a contestant and a pageant winner at National and International levels. My pageant journey has been amazing with lots of new learnings and realisations within, women are much stronger than they believe and they deserve to be identified, valued and respected for their talent, and I feel a beauty pageant is a perfect platform for the same. Those who want to bring real differences in their life and life of others are the ones who join these beauty pageants, so this is the reason a genuine platform was needed and we organised Mrs India International Queen 2020 with a motto that says, “Be Strong, Be Confident, Be You”, and by God’s grace, this has been the most successful and biggest event of the year.

2) Please tell us about your journey so far as the organizer of MIIQ 2020? You can also share with us the history of MIIQ 2020.

Ans: The journey of MIIQ 2020 has been amazing all together. We started with the live Auditions in January 2020 in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Bangalore. The Delhi Auditions took place in Radisson Blu, Mumbai were in THE PARK hotel Juhu, Chandigarh were in Hyatt Regency and Bangalore were in Hyatt Centric Bangalore, and the response was heartwarming. We were flooded with enquiries and after live auditions, we took online auditions also, and the response was excellent. We were about to have the Grand Finale in April 2020 but because of lockdown we had to postpone the event, and it finally happened in Dec 2020. Throughout the period we received immense support and patience from our participants. The team has worked hard day and night to replace the worst and find the best to give the best experience to our participants and we believe if you have a noble thought process even the universe helps you in achieving great things and Mrs India International Queen 2020 is the live example of that.

3) Why do married women want to participate in beauty pageants?

Ans: After marriage, a new chapter begins in everyone’s life with new responsibilities and lots of expectations. In order to make everyone happy within the family, women most of the time forget themselves and their happiness, their talents remain hidden most of the time. The pageant journey helps them realise their worth, their strength, their value and gives them a platform to showcase their talent to the world. The pageant journey gives identification to every woman, it is a platform to voice their opinions, to showcase their talent and get recognised. Altogether it is a journey to be your real self without a mindset to please everyone, a journey to live a life of your dreams.

4) Are Indian women participants different from the corresponding participants in other parts of the world?

Ans: I would say all women whoever place they belong to are already empowered women, as everyone has gone through different experiences in life and has a different story to tell. We always judge participants on the basis of their behaviour towards life, their performance in different rounds of competition and their never giving attitude, so for us, women around the world are unique and amazing.

5) Beauty pageants are normally looked down upon for objectifying women. How do you as the owner of the biggest beauty event of the year view these allegations?

Ans: I am a positive person and I believe in focusing on the positive points rather than talking about the negative aspects. Everyone has their own opinion and experiences but for me, it has been an amazing journey and a life-changing opportunity for every woman. I got huge respect, love and recognition in the society because of my pageant journey and I want to give the same experience to other women also, so moving forward with a positive approach and positive mindset, Mrs India International Queen has won hearts of many women across the globe.

6) What is your idea of beauty?

Ans: My idea of beauty is to be yourself and believe in gratitude. Beauty lies within, a person with a positive mindset, helping, kind, understanding and appreciating life with a never giving up attitude is a beautiful person for me.

7) Are you satisfied with the way MIIQ 2020 has evolved since its inception? What more do you want to do now?

Ans: Yes, I am very much happy and satisfied with the way MIIQ 2020 has evolved, we were able to organise the show in Covid pandemic and I think it’s a great accomplishment for us. The motto of our show is to empower women and for us it’s like giving back to the society, to the country and we would continue to do the same, even in the show we had organized two hours of self-defence training session for women apart from shoots and catwalk training, which has been loved and appreciated by everyone, this is also a small step to empower women in today’s time so that women can also take care of their safety.

8) What would be your message for women entrepreneurs the world over, especially in times of pandemic?

Ans: My message to women entrepreneurs is to keep going with a positive mindset and a never giving up attitude and success will come your way. If you put your heart and soul into something for a noble cause, you can make miracles happen. So just believe in yourself and keep giving your best.

Please read the original post here: https://www.business-standard.com/content/specials/miiq-2020-a-beauty-pageant-with-a-difference-entrepreneur-ankita-saroha-says-success-comes-to-those-who-stay-positive-in-mind-spirit-120121701203_1.html